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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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A HALF CENTURY 
IN SALEM 



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M. C. D. SILSBEE 





BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

(€t)e Ititier?iOc ^resi?, €amljriti0e 

18S7 



Copyright, 1887, 
By MARIANNE C. D. SILSBEE. 



All riehts reserved. 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge : 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co. 



'1 



Seventeen years ago I wrote a paper, with 
the title of ''Old Salem," which I read one 
evening to the members of the Ladies' Social 
Club in Boston. Subsequently I was asked to 
repeat it in small parties, at which sundry ven- 
erable gentlemen joined the young and middle- 
aged of my audience, to listen to the story of 
departed days. A few years later I gave it 
under the same title to a paper published for 
the benefit of a Salem fair, but it was in many 
respects altered, as trivial personalities in a 
private parlor would be impertinent liberties 
in print. 

With sundry changes and additions, I have 
at last done what has been so long deferred, 
and I offer my little book for the amusement of 
friends who may not be averse to refreshing 
their memories with harmless gossip. But now 
a question of propriety arises that is not quite 
easy to meet. In some instances names may 



he used without fear of giving offense, in 
others it may he doubtful, and I can only 
promise to he as discreet as possible, disarm- 
ing censure hy asking pardon beforehand for 
any possible annoyance. 




TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Old Letters / 

The Homes of Salem 14 

The Children's Joys and Sorrows 26 

The Grandmother 40 

Salem Schools 4J 

Shops and Shopkeepers 55> 

Notables 68 

Hamilton Hall 88 

A Few Salem Gentlewomen 95 

A Dream of Fair Women loi 

Salem and Harvard lo^ 

Odds and Ends 106 



OLD LETTERS 




N the early days of this cen- Early pros- 
tury the sun did not shine on a slum!' 
more prosperous town than Sa- 
lem. The East India trade had 
opened the avenue on which indomitable 
merchants strode with rapid steps to 
wealth and honor. Derbys, Peabodys, 
Dodges, Pickmans, Wests, Crowninshields, 
Forresters, Grays, Silsbees, and probably 
many others were amassing fortunes more 
or less splendid. Forests of masts rose 
at the Derby and Crowninshield wharves ; 
the men worked with a will, and their 
wives and daughters aided them by a 
wise economy. Side by side with this poUHcs. 
healthy prosperity flourished the political 
differences which often severed friend- 
ships and nourished animosities, and al- 
though Salem may not have been more 
bitter than other places of its size, doubt- 
less the gall was poured into the wine of 
life in liberal measure. Republicans and 



light as 
air 



2 Old Letters 

Federalists could not take the same news- 
paper, could not dance in the same ball- 
room, and it would seem, from a glance 
at localities, could hardly live in the same 
part of the town ; but through all this ob- 
vious hindrance to general social devel- 
opment we know that Salem girls were 
bright and lovely, and Salem men, as a 
"Trifles class. Upright and intelligent. For the 
gossip from 1802 to 1806 I must depend 
on some old yellow letters, written on the 
coarse square sheet of the period, with 
ink faded by the progress of over eighty 
years ; and I find by a careful examina- 
tion that, although in themselves interest- 
ing, they do not contain much that is 
suited to the pages of a book. The let- 
ters were addressed to a young girl in 
Marblehead, and the pockets of obliging 
friends, or the stage - coach driven by 
Thompson, were the means of communi- 
cation between Salem and the neighboring 
town. They are full of girlish enthusiasm, 
warm affection for her associates, and deep 
interest in home life ; but I will select only 
passages to show the amusements of the 
young folks of the period. As there is but 
one survivor of the dramatis personce, who 
was then a little child, I shall give names 



Old Letters ^ 

at full length and avoid the obscurity of 
initials. 

I like to think that the young letter- 
writer was a good dancer according to 
the fashion of the time, as she figured in 
the sailor's hornpipe at Turner's dancing- 
school. She will tell us about the gay 
parties that abounded in sober Salem ; and 
I find a description of a summer even- 
ing's festivities at the house of the rich 
merchant, Mr. William Gray, who built 
and occupied the brick mansion in Essex 
Street, known afterwards as the Essex Cof- 
fee House, still later as the Essex House. 
" Our party at Lucia Gray's was pleasanter 
than could have been expected at this sea- 
son ; we had a good deal to eat and to 
drink, and considerable conversation, and 
to crown all we closed the evening with a 
reel to the music of the piano. I had Lev- a gay dance 
erett Saltonstall for my partner, a sensi- 
ble, agreeable, good-natured soul, and to 
be sure, in spite of the heat, we jigged it 
away most merrily." Mr. Saltonstall was 
probably at the time a law student in Sa- 
lem ; he certainly retained through life the 
qualities alluded to, and although reels 
disappeared in the progress of events, he 
never ceased to enjoy a quadrille. In 



with a pleas- 
ant partner. 



4 



Old Letters 



Courtesy of 
a courteous 
gentleman. 



The ball 
at Lucia 
Gray's. 



another letter we are told that *' the beau- 
tiful, accomplished, and unaffected Mrs. 
Richard Derby passed Wednesday even- 
ing with us. What an honor conferred on 
our house, and yet her carriage was not 
that of a superior. Mr. John Pickering 
was pleased to appropriate to her Burke's 
description of Marie Antoinette, the un- 
fortunate consort of Louis XVI., and she 
richly deserves the highest praise that can 
be given to a lovely woman." Here is an 
extract to which the explanation of a few 
words, used in a sense now obsolete, may 
be of service : a dance was a contra-dance 
when it was not a reel ; a voluntary was 
one for which the gentlemen were at lib- 
erty to engage their partners ; a draw- 
dance was a sort of lottery — the ladies 
and gentlemen each had numbers, and 
might or might not be especially pleased 
with their luck. And now for the letter. 
" We have had a little ball at Lucia Gray's 
— dances all voluntary, not a very judi- 
cious arrangement for Salem. I wore a 
new dress made for the occasion, and had 
ample leisure, before going in to the dan- 
cing room, to criticise the pretty drapery of 
Miss Martha West while sipping a prelim- 
inary cup of tea. Mr. John Pickering in- 



Old Letters 5 

vited me for the first voluntary ; I had the 
pleasure of sitting still the second ; my * 
partner for the third was Mr. Prince, 
fourth, Henry Pickering, fifth, John Stone, 
sixth, Mr. Swett, seventh and last, Mr. 
White." 

It requires a vivid fancy to change into The begin- 
young gallants the middle-aged or old gen- V,S "" 
tlemen who have helped make life pleas- 
ant, or who perhaps have acquired a solid- 
ity of manner that renders it difficult to 
believe they ever wanted to have a good 
time. I did not know Mr. Swett until he 
had reached his eightieth year, and the ec- 
centricity that prompted '' mad speeches," 
doubtless amusing enough at his future 
wife's '' little ball," had settled down into 
mere mannerism. As an octogenarian he 
was courteous and considerate ; he brought 
me several minor poems written and illus- 
trated by his gifted grand-daughter, Fanny 
Alexander, and probably I am indebted for 
many civilities to the remembrance of his 
gay partner. 

The next extract cannot fail to be inter- Two 

It ■, t ■, r 1 • handsome 

estmg to all who have partaken of hospi- parties. 
talities in the charming house belonging to 
the South Salem Derbys : " To attempt 
a description of all our various routs would 



6 Old Letters 

be presumption. A ball and supper at 
Mrs. Putnam's were most elegant, but Mrs. 
Hersey Derby's was preeminent in splen- 
dor of decorations and music. There were 
four rooms open for the reception of com- 
pany, above sixty dancers, and a superb 
service of cut glass, even to the very plates 

A hill of we ate from. The table was in the form 
of a crescent, ornamented with a great va- 
riety of exotic plants ; our fare consisted of 
cold ham and tongue, jellies, whips, cus- 
tards, creams, blanc mange, tarts, puddings, 
cheese-cakes, grapes, nuts, almonds, cakes 
of every variety, and confectionery. Our 
attendants were numerous, and everything 
conducted with ease and propriety." A 

Rich spoils great deal of the beautiful glass is still in 
existence, and Dr. Hasket Derby, oculist, 
of Boston, is the fortunate possessor ; 
he received it by the will of his cous- 
ins, the Misses Derby, and it may add 
a little to the pleasure of ownership to 
know that it is not only handsome but his- 
torical, being mentioned in a young lady's 
letter early in the century, and referred to 
by an old lady only fourteen years before 
its close. " I can tell you of a party at my 
brother's, at Mrs. S. Tucker's, Mrs. Bow- 
ditch's, Eliza Orne's, Mrs. Cushing's, Mrs. 



of time. 



Old Letters 7 

Sam'l Derby's, Miss Martha West's, be- 
sides two at our own house, and I attended 
nearly all of them. Judge then of my 
occupations ; great assiduity is necessary 
to repair the inroads made by these dissi- 
pations on our more important work and 
duties, and I am on the point of run- 
ning off to Danvers to recover my sober 
senses." The next is not strictly puri- 
tanical, but there is enough human nature 
to make it attractive : " Our good Dr. 
Prince is so obliging as to have no meet- 
ing to-day, from indisposition, I imagine. 
Could I separate the cause from the effect, 
I would heartily rejoice, but the common 
dictates of humanity forbid my exulting in 
the infirmities of so amiable a being as our 
pastor." 

Yet she seems to find it easy to turn to From grave 
secular affairs, and the letter is in part de- 
voted to an account of one of the public 
assemblies, so she asks, '' Has the rumor 
of our ball at Palmer's reached you } I 
was at the top of Fortune's wheel, answered 
to No. 2 in the draw-dances, with Salton- 
stall, Swett, and cousin Henry Pickering 
for my partners. My voluntaries were, 
two with cousin Dudley Pickman, one with 
John Stone, one with cousin Henry, and 



8 Old Letters 

one with K., who thinks himself an Adonis. 
We supped at eleven, a true Yankee feast, 
— more ducks, chickens, chicken pies, ham, 
tongue, coffee, bread and butter than would 
feed a nation, — but I suppose it is very 
anti-republican to abuse the hospitalities of 
my countrymen, unless I choose to prefer 
the frogs of sister France." 

These early Salem assemblies were held 
at the rooms in Federal Street, afterwards 
altered to a charming dwelling-house and 
occupied by Judge Putnam, whose family 
filled through many years an important 
part in our social life, and left a correspond- 
ing gap when it went among the first 
pioneers of the second exodus to Boston. 
Pbiianthro- Duriug thc wiutcr season these balls were 
%shion\n sufficiently numerous to satisfy the merry 

modern -, -, . i -i 

times. young pcoplc, and seem to nave been con- 

ducted on principles of philanthropy which 
might well amaze the more selfish elegance 
of a modern ball-room. The evening's 
amusement began at six o'clock. First in 
order came the draw-dances, that were to 
give every person present two or three 
opportunities to share in the pleasure for 

Autocrat of which they helped to pay. The manager, 

the ball- t • i i i 

room. arrayed m black coat and knee-breeches, 

voluminous white neck-cloth, silk stock- 



Old Letters g 

ings and pumps, standing where all eyes 
might fix themselves in deferential gaze, 
called in sonorous voice "number one, a 
lady," and number one took her place at 
the head of the room, a little anxious about 
" number one, a gentleman," who, on being 
summoned, took his stand opposite the 
lady, and soon the lines were filled. At 
a stamp of that trimly dressed foot the 
music struck up, and away went the head 
couple. Dancers danced in these times. Dancers who 
and it would not be easy for even an active 
imagination to picture the agility and dex- 
terity with which feet and legs were used. 
Traditions have floated down to us of brisk 
young gentlemen occasionally bounding into 
chairs, and the pirouettes, flic-flacs, and pig- 
eon wings introduced into the perpetual 
motion of an old-fashioned contra-dance 
made a sight worth seeing. After the 
draw-dances came the voluntaries, reels, 
and contra-dances in due proportion, and 
the stately grace of the minuet tempering 
gayety with a dash of dignity. The lady at 
the head of the long line called the dance, 
and when our letter-writer ordered " Drops "Drops of 
of Brandy," it appeared that nobody but '"^'^ ^' 
herself and her partner from Boston had 
ever tasted the seductive potion. The mu- 



lo Old Letters 

sic was peculiar and the figures were in- 
tricate, and as they could get no aid they 
went through them on their own respon- 
sibility, while the others looked on and 
doubtless thought it an audacious proceed- 
A pretty ing. Thc drcss worn on this occasion was 
tn'gooT an extremely scant gold muslin with a very 
preservation. ^^^^^ ^^-^^^ j^^^ j^.^ glovcs nearly meeting 

the sleeves, which were not much to speak 
of, and yellow kid slippers, round-toed and 
slashed on the instep. A comfortable sup- 
per was usually served at ten o'clock ; at 
midnight the revelers went home, and were 
probably sound asleep long before the hour 
at which the main interest of modern par- 
ties commences. One other party is al- 
luded to, but it evidently did not please. 
Her partners for the draw-dances were not 
to her taste, and I will suppress their names. 
Letters were seldom dated, but in Feb- 
ruary, 1802, we read the moral reflections 
of the writer, at the age of seventeen, on 
the difference between town and semi- 
An"out- country life: "After four weeks' dissipa- 
Tehirn!^'^ ^ tiou iu Bostou, I am once more safely re- 
turned to my peaceful, happy home. It 
is ingratitude to say I do not love the 
metropolis, for its hospitality to me de- 
mands my utmost praise, yet I would not 



Old Letters 



n 



live there. Nature is discarded from their 
society, and gorgeous fashion reigns in 
her stead. I, who have been used to a 
free government, cannot bow to the de- 
crees of the mutable deity." 

Does anybody know what a "village bon- 
net " was } The young lady has just made 
a purchase of '' the prettiest, most simple 
little thing that ever woman wore." It 
was probably bought with reference to the 
grand coming event, when all the bright 
faces would like to be adorned in the most 
bewitching manner, for it was a notable 
day in the annals of Salem. *' The day 
after to-morrow will be the anniversary of 
the East India Marine Society, and you 
must certainly come over in the morning 
and go with us to see the procession ; it is 
better worth attention than a dozen train- 
ings. There will be a complete Mandarin 
figure on exhibition, the Palanquin, and all 
the officers dressed in Chinese gowns, fine 
music, and everything that can add to the 
interest." 

With a touch of Federal politics, the ex- 
tracts from the letters will come to an end. 
" I am writing on a great book, placed as 
usual on my lap, and, sitting at the win- 
dow, my attention is frequently attracted 



Novel enter- 
tainment. 



excellent 
man 



12 Old Letters 

by external objects, so that I make little 
progress. Besides, we are in the midst of 
electioneering, alias trying to rout you 
Democrats, for I could not help joining a 
friend of mine in the wish that the morn- 
ing's town-meeting bell might be the har- 

Triiimph of binger of Mr. Crowninshield's political exit. 

inihield^m But you are so indefatigable in a bad cause 
that there is little chance for us. If I am 
saucy I give you leave to return the com- 
pliment ; you may even join Carleton in 
abusing my uncle Pickering, though, like 
him, I suspect you will discover nothing 
amiss but that he eats turnips and holds 
the plough." This letter, like all the oth- 
ers, was addressed to a niece of Elbridge 
Gerry. Marblehead was then, as it is now, 
the stronghold of Democracy, and the op- 
portunity of a good-natured hit could not 
be neglected by a niece of Timothy Pick- 
ering. 

The old yellow papers will now be laid 
carefully aside, perhaps never to be looked 
at again. The writer who exulted in pros- 
perity, a loving, happy home, and health so 
perfect as to call for constant gratitude, 
was in ten years from the last date, 1806, a 
confirmed invalid ; but cheerful resignation 
took the place of high spirits ; the unselfish 



Old Letters i ^ 

heart never taxed the sympathies of those 
with whom, so far as was possible, she 
kept her place as a kind and cordial friend. 
Conversation, that she liked so much and 
in which she was acknowledged to be most 
delightful, was often from necessity re- 
linquished ; but to the utmost extent of 
diminishing strength she availed herself of 
the possibilities of enjoyment. To deep 
religious feeling she added a philosophy 
that kept her calm and self-reliant in every 
trial. A wise and efficient household 
guide, she ruled it with firm and gentle 
sway, and she was ably described in a few 
words by the elder Dr. Peirson, who, al- 
though not our family physician, made her 

occasional friendly visits : ** Mrs. D is 

an alive woman." 





THE HOMES OF SALEM 



Retrospec- 
tion. 




WOMAN who can look back 
through a large part of the pres- 
ent century and remember a great 
many of the distinctive marks of 
life in Salem, during her fifty years of res- 
idence, is at least qualified by right of sen- 
iority to talk about "the good old times." 
And they were emphatically good old 
times ; times of respectability, of comfort, 
of honest toil and elegant leisure, of steady 
thrift, of modest charities. Moderate times 
they were, knowing little excess, admit- 
ting of no extraordinary action, but so 
pleasant, so genial, so real, that I would 
fain describe to the young folks of now- 
adays the ancestry which gave a certain 
significance to Salem by the occupations 
of their industrious, methodical lives, the 
distinguished characters who made it a 
noted little place, and the numerous oddi- 
ties who added piquancy to the daily food 
of life. Where shall I begin } At the be- 



The Homes of Salem 75 

ginning, and tell all about it ? Well, then, 
so I will, and let me promise that my story 
shall be strictly true ; and even if the half 
is not worth recounting, it has been and 
happened in some nook of the snug town 
before and after it grew up to a city. 

The old homes ! how many hallowed Realities 
memories cluster around these words ! A° ' ^' 
home was a home then, a place to be born 
in, to live in, and to die in, and, if fate so 
ordained, to be married from. And a day 
was a day then, beginning at six o'clock in 
summer, and at half past seven in winter, 
and usually ending at ten, at which time 
the sober household was ready for the 
night's rest. 

As I am not romancing, only describ- 
ing, I must confess that vast discomforts 
were borne with stoicism because they 
were inevitable. All through the long, se- TorHd and 
vere winter we were cold as a matter of '^''^' ^°""' 
course, excepting the side next to the glow- 
ing wood fire, and that was scorched ; the 
entries and sleeping-rooms were probably . 

at freezing point, ice in the water pitchers, 
unmelting trost on the windows. But the 
roaring fires were built up in the spacious 
cavities with back log, back stick and fore 
stick, split wood and cat stick, chips for 



1 6 The Homes of Salem 

kindling, with big bellows to blow the flame, 
and who cared for cold ? In those far-off 
days punctuality headed the list of domes- 
tic virtues ; establishments were not large, 
two or three at the utmost constituting the 
forces. We kept helps then ; sometimes 
they were hindrances, addicted to occa- 
sional sauciness, especially if they were 
good, and nobody in the parlor would have 
been bold enough to interfere materially 
in the woman's rights of the kitchen. 
Love and Still, Yankee help was an admirable insti- 
tution, and when it was judiciously man- 
aged it gave large returns of love and ser- 
vice. The family all met at the breakfast 
table in winter at eight o'clock, and very 
cozy and appetizing was the morning meal. 
" Evil, be As there were no nerves then, coffee was a 
good/''^ licensed drink ; as dyspepsia was an unac- 
knowledged sin, hot bread cakes, rye grid- 
r die cakes, or indian-meal johnny cake, smok- 
' ing from its board, and drop cakes baked 
on the brick floor of the oven, were abun- 
dantly supplied, while the few who did not 
choose slow poison indulged in spread or 
dip toast. Not all at once, but from this 
variety selections were made. Milk and 
honey flowed for the children, and to this 
day I never see a bee without thinking 



The Homes of Salem ly 

of the grocery store round Buffum's cor- 
ner from which the up-town supphes were 
obtained. Breakfast over, the next duty 
was to fit ourselves for the outer world : 
wadded hoods, long tippets, knit mittens, Appropriate 
carpet moccasins, woolen overcoats, for the 
girls ; with a difference for the boys of 
greased boots, ugly beaver hats, or knit 
caps shaped like a pudding bag. Then 
came the fun of sliding in the wide gut- 
ters all the way to school (there was a 
glare of ice in front of Miss Becky Cabot's 
fine old house), or plodding through deep 
snow banks which buried us up to our 
heads ; but only boys were permitted by 
public opinion to drag sleds, and the sole 
girl of the period who dared so to do was 
called " Tom-boy," by way of showing the 
superior good manners of the numerous 
critics. At one o'clock dinner was served At a Federal 
in reverse order : first the pudding, then ding came 
the meat, and as the children were obliged til 'oemo- 
to be in the school-room again at two Zftlthr"' 
o'clock there was no time for dessert, and 
the fruit was disposed of at odd seasons. 
At six the pleasant tea, or supper, as it 
was usually called, was spread ; and when 
the " second girl " had cleared the table, a 
happy group quickly surrounded it, while 



reveries. 



1 8 The Homes of Salem 

books, work, games, slates and pencils, with 
a dish of rosy apples, furnished the occupa- 
tions of the evening. The light of other 
days did not shine on distant corners ; two 
handsome plated lamps glimmer in mem- 
ory, until a few years later they were dis- 
placed by an astral, — and the winter's 
day of Salem was ended. 
Happy I sometimes fancy that my brain must 

be brimful of small photographs, such 
vivid little pictures rise to view when I am 
sitting alone and thinking, as old folks do, 
of the time of bright sunshine and rosy 
afterglow, when such lovely rainbows came 
on the drops shed by childish eyes that 
a sorrow only made the joy that came 
next it still brighter by its contrast ; and 
although ministers now and then preached 
about the trials of life and melancholy 
pessimists groaned about a "vale," we 
were firm in the conviction that we should 
always emerge in triumph from the one 
and tread on flowers as we journeyed 
through the other. Happy were the little 
feet that walked in Salem, free to wander 
up and down the shady streets, out in the 
green lanes, and through the trim gar- 
dens ; blessed were the young lives so pro- 
tected by watchful love, doubtless within 



The Homes of Salem ig 

somewhat narrow limits, but with no desire 
to stray beyond them. And who shall say 
that the existence apportioned to the eld- 
ers, so equipoised in pleasure and duty, 
was not as worthy approval as the more 
brilliant achievements of the present era ? 

The ''day of small things" was compar- 
atively guiltless of omissions, for every- 
thing might be done when there was not 
too much to do. If there were not many committees a 
self-sacrificing mortals, ready to devote the '^enuZ!'^' 
larger part of their time to taking charge 
of all members of the human family who 
did not belong to their division, it can 
be said in extenuation of their shortcom- 
ings that there was not then a large num- 
ber of poor or naughty folks in the com- 
munity, and with some aid and a little 
setting to rights they usually managed to 
take care of themselves. Women were 
mostly limited to Mrs. Whitney's mass 
meetings of two ; and let me say that two 
clear-headed and warm-hearted women are 
often as useful as two dozen. Their gra- 
cious kindnesses were never omitted, and 
usually children were taught that by mak- 
ing others happy they assured their own 
happiness ; so on Election Day they were 
sent with cake to some old dependent or 



20 The Homes of Salem 

reduced gentlewoman, and at the season of 
Thanksgiving pies and puddings were taken 
by the same messengers. Charities were 
judicious, benevolence was ever watchful, 
the few societies were wisely conducted, 
and by giving needed assistance in season 
importunate begging was easily forestalled. 

A woman's I think that a peculiar mission was mak- 
ing sunshine in shady places of the house. 
Always at hand when wanted, always busy 
in the right hours, they could wash the 
glass, china, and silver of the breakfast- 
table, help to make cake and preserves 
in the kitchen, and dust nicely whatever 
could not be trusted to less careful hands. 
So when household duties were done, they 
were ready to take their seat in the par- 
lor, with a basket of mending or sewing 
on the pretty work table, a book, perhaps 
the last Scott's novel, perhaps an "Edin- 
burgh Review," lying in close neighbor- 

A portrait, hood ; and I do not believe there was a 
pleasanter sight in the world than a Salem 
mistress of a family through the afternoon 
and evening. 

Social intercourse was delightful, as there 
were readers, thinkers, and plenty of good 
talkers. Invitations were not written, but 
sent by domestics, or more frequently by 



The Homes of Salem 21 

the children of the family. The average 
size of an evening party was from thirty to 
fifty guests ; they began to arrive at seven, 
and to go at ten. York Morris, the stout Tht first 
colored waiter, handed with a dexterity pe- recJrd. 
culiar to himself the large trays of tea and 
coffee, pound and sponge cake, and milk 
biscuits, and the ladies, with those gentle- 
men who chose to come early, did ample 
justice to the feast. The majority of the 
latter wandered in from their offices at half 
past eight or nine, in season for the whips 
and creams, Madeira and Sangaree. The 
ladies sat round the room in a circle, the 
gentlemen moving about, pausing in front 
of those with whom they wished to con- 
verse, or perhaps getting a chance at a 
chair or a seat on the sofa. Conversation 
was general whenever the assembly was 
small enough to admit of it, — a tete-a-tete 
would have been impossible, — keen wit, 
good-natured argument, and sound sense 
never flagged. Men liked to visit, and took 
a laudable pride in making themselves as 
delightful as possible. There was John wdi-known 

^c ti tlcfttcti 

Pickering, lawyer and philologist, polished 
in manner, courteous of address, ready for 
the occasion ; Henry Pickering, refined 
in taste even to fastidiousness, poetic in 



22 The Homes of Salem 

nature, with the soul of an artist and 
Well-known heart of a true gentleman ; Leverett Sal- 
gen emen. ^q^^^^\\^ intelligent, musical, generous, and 
cordial ; Nathaniel Saltonstall, full of droll- 
ery, kindly to all, and the special favorite 
of the young folks ; Dudley L. Pickman, 
keen as a Damascus blade, faithful in 
friendship, and an absolute genius in finan- 
cial affairs ; Judge White, who devoted the 
leisure hours of his professional life to the 
reading and study that made him so desir- 
able a companion ; Pickering Dodge, the 
busy merchant, always in a hurry, never 
stopping to rest, whose quaint speeches 
doubled themselves in oddity because, like 
Charles Lamb, he uttered them through 
the medium of slight hesitancy of speech ; 
Judge Putnam, friendly and honorable, with 
open hearted and handed hospitality ; Ben 
Merrill, the witty bachelor, whose occupa- 
tion, apart from his law office, was to sup- 
ply jokes and puns for the community ; 
John G. King, scholarly and intellectual ; 
Colonel Pickman, gentleman of the old 
school ; Humphrey Devereux, whose mind, 
enriched by foreign travel, was further ma- 
tured by culture in the college he so dearly 
loved ; Dr. Bowditch, with a charming sim- 
plicity equaled only by his great learning ; 



The Homes of Salem 2^ 

Timothy Pickering, the friend of Washing- , 
ton, the Revolutionary soldier, the upright 
statesman, incapable of a low sentiment or 
a mean action. Many others there were, 
as well versed in the amenities of life, — 
Silsbees, Crowninshields, Barstows, Pea- other 
bodys, Derbys, Whites, and Judge Story. ^Zmet^ 
Some of these gentlemen were noted for 
the dinner parties at which the heads of 
government, distinguished politicians, and 
members of foreign diplomatic corps were 
often entertained ; while the great balls, 
for which they not infrequently opened 
their houses, were much enjoyed by the 
numerous guests. Among these honored 
names, those of Judge Story and Hon. 
Nathaniel Silsbee are entitled to especial 
mention for the high position attained by 
both in public life. Judge Story left Salem 
before his great powers had reached their 
zenith, and his departure was much re- 
gretted by his adopted city, which bor- 
rowed him from Marblehead, and then lent 
him to Cambridge. Mr. Silsbee, whose 
long life was passed in his birthplace, 
earned the respectful regard of his fellow- 
citizens as well as the entire confidence 
of all his political associates during the 
many years in which, as Representative 



24 The Homes of Salem 

and Senator, he served his country with 
faithful ability. 

There was a certain urbane stateliness 
in the manners of the elder ladies from 
which they seldom departed, and it was 
well that the acknowledged leaders of so- 
ciety should have authority to temper any 
excess of vivacity in the young folks. 
Our pride Who could ignorc the presence of a lady 
pleasure. attircd in her party gown of crimson me- 
rino and turban of the same color, or in 
sober silk, with embroidered collar trimmed 
with costly thread lace and brow wreathed 
with snowy muslin } Yet these dignified 
dames seldom wore their starch too stiff, 
and if, as I suppose, their stockings were 
a little blue, the decorous length of the 
petticoats prevented undue display. The 
few who liked to revive their youthful 
pleasures or look on at the enjoyment of 
the young people could take their place 
in occasional quadrille and contra-dance, 
or sit in velvet and laces on the not very 
comfortable benches at Hamilton Hall, as 
honored and welcome guests. Those who 
once shone in that society are all gone 
but one, who will remember what I have 
tried to recall ; most of them died in the 
abounding wealth of virtue, intellect, and 



The Homes of Salem 



25 



household worth, while a few lived on to saum's 
happy old age, — all leaving to us the '^''"'^ ^'"" 
precious memory of Salem's daughters, as 
they existed, loving and beloved, so many 
years ago. 




THE CHILDREN'S JOYS AND SOR- 
ROWS 



Method in 
madness. 




ND now the children must take 
their turn again, or they will not 
have time to grow up before their 
sketches are finished. When the 
cold weather was, by a polite fiction, done 
with and laid aside for next winter's use, 
there came a short period of superfluous 
discomfort. Early in May the andirons, 
shovel, and tongs were relegated to the 
garret, the woolen clothes either given 
away or shut up in spare closet drawers, 
and the daughters were made happy in 
new calicoes for school and white cambrics 
for Sundays, or wretched in the last sum- 
mer's dresses with a tuck let down; for 
short gowns would not have been tolerated, 
and the innocent black legs seen on the 
streets at the present day would have 
shocked the moral sense of the commu- 
nity. The sons were usually found to have 
put the finishing touches to the last year's 



The Children's Joys and Sorrows 2y 

garments, so the hen-tailor, Martha Ste- 
vens, came to the house to fit them out for 
the summer's campaign ; the sight of her 
press-board and the smell of her hot iron 
were an abomination to my eyes and an of- 
fense in my nostrils. We, the girls, ex- 
ulted in Sally Floyd, the best and most 
deliberate of dress - makers : we threaded Hdping 
needles, handed pins, stitched up breadths ; ^'^^^^' 
yet, with all our assistance, the process 
was slow as the effect was sure ; but when 
a gown was finished, it was in its simple 
way perfection. What would she have 
thought of the generous cutting and slash- 
ing of our fashionable modistes.? Yi^x a wUe ccon- 
economical scissors never went an inch too ''"'■^* 
far, her basting threads were used again 
and again (to be sure, her efficient aids 
took them out and wound them), and her 
pins were not scattered on the floor to be 
picked up by anybody who wanted a sup- 
ply. She was a quaint little figure, in the 
low sewing-chair, neat as a Quakeress, with 
smooth gray hair and a very original tur- 
ban ; to the good sense of a judicious dress- 
maker she added the simplicity of a child 
and a bit of harmless vanity, for she con- 
fessed that she thought her hair " a kind 
of pretty." She did not imagine that she 



28 The Children's Joys and Sorrows 

was a half century in advance of the fash- 
ion, or that her memory would be so long 
preserved by those who profited by her 
faithful services. 

On May morning we went a-maying, 
probably bringing home bad colds with the 
few pale flowers ; but the pleasant season 
was coming, and we could wait for it with 
patience. The school vacation and Elec- 
tion Day were times of bliss ; in every well- 
regulated family a large batch of election 
cake was made, and what was not sent to 
the favored few who relied on foreign sup- 
plies was sure to be eaten before it had a 
chance to dry. Some of the Salem fam- 
ilies migrated to Andover the last week 
of May, where at Mrs. Ballard's boarding- 
house the young folks had a delightful 
The money's time. The housc was small but comfort- 
JiZ. ^ able, the closet under the stairs was full of 
loaf cake and gingerbread, and the table 
was amply supplied with good bread, fresh, 
butter, thick cream, and such drop cakes as 
were never seen in any other place ; if my 
memory serves me aright, it was all to be 
had for three or four dollars a week. The 
Shawsheen, then unspoiled by factories, 
was a never- failing attraction; the mill 
could be visited, and Pomp's pond was the 



• 77?^ Children's Joys and Sorrows 2g 

grand resort for a gala day. A four-legged a one-horse 
animal, belonging to the husband of the ' ''^' 
ruling potentate, did duty as a horse, which, 
with a shabby old chaise, could be hired by 
any girl who would undertake to poke him 
with a parasol or lash him with the reins 
into the semblance of a trot, but his taste 
was decidedly in favor of a walk. Old Tim- 
othy Ballard was looked on as a rich man, 
although, being of a modest nature, he dis- 
claimed the justice of the charge ; and 
when he was asked who paid the largest tax 
in the place replied in few but significant 
words, "Them that don't oughter." A few 
years ago I saw the house from a distance. 
I knew it was small ; then it looked to me 
absolutely diminutive ; but whatever the 
number of feet and inches, a huge quan- 
tity of fun could be packed within its walls 
in the Salem vacations. 

Child life was doubtless monotonous, but chud life. 
we did not expect much variety, and found 
our happiness within doors. 

" Home was our world, our throne a mother's knee, 
Our crown her smile bent on us lovingly ; " 

and the rare pleasure of an outing was 
doubled in telling all its delights on coming 
back. Summer amusements were scarce : 
there was Columbine Hill to climb, the 



garden. 



^o The Children's Joys and Sorrows 

graceful flowers that nodded in the June 
breeze to be plucked, and the great pas- 
tures to wander over, that were as pleasant 
to us as they seem to be to the Salem 
poetess who has written charming verses 
in their praise. The lovely gardens of 
friends were an occasional treat, and I was 
given the freedom, but not the flowers, of 
a few ; either cowardice or honesty kept 
my hands from the stalks of sweet-william, 
pinks, bluebells, or larkspur, and I fear that 
I was sorry it was wicked to break the 
The old eighth commandment. But one garden 
blooms in never - fading beauty ; many a 
fair - haired hyacinth made me a happy 
child, and as for the bed of periwinkles, it 
was at my service to help myself. I loved 
flowers, but I worshiped beauty, and I re- 
member how I ran home one afternoon, al- 
most breathless (I seldom walked), to tell 
the family I had seen such a pretty lady 
dressed in a green silk gown, and that she 
looked just like a rose in its green leaves. 
It still keeps its sweetness, but I see a 
white rose now. 

It was either in 1817 or 18 18 that a 
steamboat was advertised to arrive at Sa- 
lem on a certain day and to take passen- 
gers for an excursion in the harbor. Very 



The Children's Joys and Sorrows ^i 

few of the inhabitants had ever seen an 
out-pour of steam larger than that issuing 
from the Frenchman's locomotive, when he 
proposed a journey on his own big tea-ket- 
tle. A home party was planned, and the 
driver, who did not often do anything to- 
day that could be deferred to the morrow, 
was as usual late in his movements. Old 
Charley was coaxed to his utmost speed, 
the wharf reached in a mingled state of 
hope and fear, and the expectant voyagers 
saw the steamer making its way without 
them. But the disappointment was one of ^« excur- 

. . , . . , sion under 

the many blessmgs m disguise ; the sea difficulties. 
was rough, and the excursionists soon had 
ample reason to wish themselves on the 
solid land. As a slight compensation a 
drive to Topsfield Hotel, where friends 
were boarding, was proposed. The day 
was hot, the road dusty ; we behaved like 
young philosophers, yet we had to make 
believe very hard that we were having a 
good time, and did not succeed in deceiving 
ourselves even if we solaced the mortified 
driver. 

Toward the end of the last century, when 
my letter-writer was a very young girl, she 
was among the children who saw George 
Washington, who helped to receive him in 



in Salem. 



^2 The Children's Joys and Sorrows 

their pretty white dresses, and heard that 
most perfect of greetings from Abijah 
Northey, selectman : " Friend Washington, 
I am glad to see thee, and in the name of 
the inhabitants of Salem I give thee a 
La Fayette hcarty welcomc." The children of 1824 
saw La Fayette in a pouring rain, but still 
they could peep at him through the drops 
and be thankful. There was a chapter of 
accidents at the dividing line between 
Marblehead and Salem, where the escort 
was to take him from the enthusiastic peo- 
ple who had been his entertainers ; it was 
nobody's fault, perhaps, although every- 
body's misfortune ; but at last the aids 
galloped into place, the procession formed, 
and through thousands of half-frantic peo- 
ple it made its way to the bridge, where two 
hundred sailors in neat uniform greeted the 
nation's guest with hearty cheers. Arches 
wreathed with flowers, covered with in- 
scriptions impossible to be read, and the 
star-spangled banner, which should have 
waved an eloquent greeting, soaked into 
sullen silence, spanned the streets leading 
to the common, where a thousand school- 
children were formed in two lines, making 
the air ring with shouts of " Welcome, La 
Fayette ! " Then the procession passed to 



The Children's Joys and Sorrows ^^ 

the Coffee House, where Judge Story met 
the General with beautifully appropriate 
salutations, to which he made a cordial 
reply. Hamilton Hall was decorated by 
the ladies in preparation for a dinner to be 
given to the honored guest. Portraits of 
as many of the venerable inhabitants as 
could be mustered were hung on the walls, 
and it was my good fortune to wait on Miss 
Eliza Endicott by handing the oak leaves 
and garlands, to be arranged by her around 
the picture frames and windows with an 
elegance of taste that no one could rival. 
Three hundred gentlemen were seated at 
the tables, and at half past five the Gen- 
eral took leave of the company, and was 
escorted out of town toward Ipswich by a 
cavalcade. But the weather was a literal 
damper to the pleasure of the day, although 
it could not lessen the ardor of a hearty 
greeting by which this small section of the 
country welcomed La Fayette. 

The Sunday dispensation was the serious observance 
trial of our youth, and my recollections of "" ''■^" 
the morning and afternoon services are 
vivid. Dr. Prince was the pastor of the 
First Church, and there was some hesi- 
tation about settling him on account of 
the delicate health which would probably 



^4 The Children's Joys and Sorrows 

shorten his life ; but he survived to bury 
every parishioner present at his ordination. 
He walked the streets in clerical garb of 
shovel hat, black coat and breeches, waist- 
coat with long flaps, silk or worsted hose, 
and buckled shoes ; in the pulpit, his thick 
white hair combed back from his forehead 
and confined in a roll behind the ears made 
him an attractive specimen of an old-time 
parson ; gown, cassock, and bands left noth- 
Theoiogy in Ing to desire in the outer man, but the ser- 

old times. ^ . - 

mons, made up m large measure of re- 
marks supported by references to chapter 
and verse of the Old Testament, however 
edifying to the elders, were neither useful 
nor interesting to the youth of his congre- 
gation ; and the long prayer, during which 
nobody would have thought it proper to sit 
down, richly merited its descriptive adjec- 
tive. He was a devout man and a pro- 
found theologian, but he certainly erred in 
the choice of a profession ; he should rather 
have devoted himself to science and phi- 
losophy, for his thoughts were apt to go 
astray in the church when any object of 
unusual interest was waiting for him in the 
study. He occasionally made droll mis- 
takes that set the young folks into fits of 
giggling, not to be checked by the most 



The Children's Joys and Sorrows 35 

impressive parental frown. He has prayed 
that '' vacant young ministers might be 
supplied with parishes," has requested the 
choir to ''sing a chapter of Matthew," and 
informed us " that the governor had ap- 
pointed the usually lugubrious last Thurs- 
day in April as a day of illumination and 
prayer." But there never was a kinder 
man than our pastor, and if he did send an 
apology to a parishioner for not having at- 
tended his daughter's funeral, when she 
had only been married, the intended po- 
liteness was all right and nobody was af- 
fronted. 

Dr. Prince, although so quiet and unob- science. 
trusive, must have taken a most respect- 
able position among the noteworthy men 
of his time. He originated valuable im- 
provements in the brass mounting of the 
telescope, for which he made the work and 
finished it on his eightieth birthday ; he 
added to the beauty of the kaleidoscope, 
and contributed largely to the construction 
of the Lucernal microscope, and the air 
pump known as the American air pump 
owed its creation to him. But his mod- 
esty being as rare as his learning was pro- 
found, he gave all his discoveries to be 
used by others, and, content with useful- 



^6 The Children's Joys and Sorrows 

ness, never sought for fame. At this pe- 
riod there was not so great a reverence for 
antiquities as fashion and the centennials 
have developed in the rising generations. 
When anything was too old to be useful or 
ornamental it was altered and made over 
until, if the innate capacity existed, it 
turned out as good as new ; thus it proved 
with the pulpit of the First Church, and 
the parson and his people were equally 
pleased by the ordination of a handsome 
young minister, Rev. Charles Wentworth 
Upham, to aid the senior in his declining 
Old and years. Two or three more ** winters of 
our discontent " showed the absolute need 
of another building : so the venerable old 
church was pulled down to give place to a 
brick edifice on the time-hallowed spot, 
which could boast of no remarkable beauty, 
and this has been altered and re-altered 
until very little of the original architecture 
has been left. But we must take a fare- 
well peep at the ancient squalid interior, 
with its uncarpeted aisles and pen -like 
pews, before we not irreverently close the 
doors. 

It might easily be supposed that the 
clap seats in the pews were intended to 
perpetrate a ''feu dejoie " at the close of 



new. 



The Children's Joys and Sorrows ^j 

the service ; it was no disrespect to the 
sacred edifice to be glad to get out of it, 
especially in winter, when the foot-stove 
circulating round the pew alone kept us 
from shivering with cold, for the great 
black iron stove in the broad aisle did not 
do much toward moderating the tempera- 
ture. The seats on hinges were turned up 
during the prayers and benediction, and 
let down at their close with a clatter of 
slams. A prominent worshiper and head 
of a family once forgot to lower the seat, 
and the result was a nearer proximity to 
the floor than was desirable to him or to 
the children. No mortal could have stood 
bolt upright through a long prayer ; hence 
the clap seats. 

Charles Dolliver, the blind organist, was a umd or- 
for many years an affliction to the parish, 
borne with patience, through pity. His 
poor life was so scantily furnished with 
pleasure that a dismissal seemed almost 
cruel, but at last he was ** retired," let us 
hope with every possible alleviation. His 
highest week-day enjoyment was the tun- 
ing of pianos, in which he was assisted by 
the owners, as his blindness prevented him 
from putting the key on the screws. When 
the instrument satisfied his critical ear, he 



^8 The Children's Joys and Sorrows 

asked the indulgence of holding a skein of 
silk for one of the ladies of the family to 
wind, begging that it might be a tangled 
one ; so it was well snarled before putting 
it over his hands. That duty being accom- 
plished, he drank a glass of Madeira, re- 
ceived a silver dollar, and was led home to 
his lodgings. The joint tuning, the snarl- 
ing, the winding, and the office of guide 
fell to the share of the present writer, for 
which I suppose she received the not tangi- 
ble reward of a tolerably good conscience. 
The family Mrs. C. W. Upham, whose shyness too of- 
wiVdevei- ten hid the rhyming faculty and wit natural 
to her as sister to O. W. Holmes, wrote "A 
Farewell to Dolliver," the closing verses of 
which expressed the hope that in the better 
land his sensitive ear might never be vexed 
with discord, and that he should ''strike a 
harp celestial there." A friend to whom 
it was lent returned it with an added stanza, 
which was probably nearer the ideal heaven 
of Charles Dolliver : — 

" Kind lady, ask another boon, 
For Dolliver thy prayer recall : 
Let heaven's harps be out of tune, 
And he be there to tune them all." 

A walk on Sunday evening was not 
thought sinful, but it must have been 



oped in a 
lady. 



The Children's Joys and Sorrows ^9 

classed among superfluities, as I recall only 
two such events during childhood. The 
family sat on the doorsteps in Warren 
Street to admire the sunsets, of which the 
view was delightful, but I envied the dear 
little schoolmate who so often accompa- a. e. s. 
nied her father on a pleasant stroll, as a 
fitting close to the day. Once I was sol- 
emnly taken to the Danvers burying- 
ground to visit the grave of Eliza Whar- 
ton, but I fail to see the fitness of the 
pilgrimage. Witch Hill was my second 
indulgence, and with visions of the pins 
then kept in the old Court House pricking 
my heart, I climbed up the rocks without 
the least idea that my two great -grand- Ancestry! 
children would boast a grandmother eight 
or nine degrees removed, who was hanged 
for a witch on the accursed spot. Bridget 
Bishop was a very shrewd woman, who was 
fond of dress and kept a shovel board, 
whatever that may be ; these were the only 
faults of which she appears to have been 
guilty, unless we add to the list that she 
was infinitely wiser than the deluded idiots 
who bore false witness against her, or the 
merciless judges who condemned her to an 
ignominious death. 



THE GRANDMOTHER 



Thanksgiv- 
ing Day. 




CHILD'S world would be hardly 
worth living in if there were no 
grandmothers to make it all that 
it would be reasonable or unrea- 
sonable to expect, and the grandchildren 
descended from the Pickering family had a 
first-rate one, at whose table they ate roast 
chickens and batter pudding (a lost art) 
every Wednesday, giving her their rather 
upsetting company on Election and Thanks- 
giving days as a matter of course. And 
now I will describe a primitive Thanksgiv- 
ing dinner, as there have been so many 
modern innovations that the old fashion 
may be well-nigh forgotten. First in or- 
der was a huge turkey, roasted before a 
wood fire, vegetables of the season, cran- 
berry sauce at discretion ; next roast ducks ; 
plum pudding, mince pie, apple pie, and 
squash pie ; nuts, raisins, figs, and apples. 
There was no preliminary soup, and as for 
ice cream, I doubt if a spoonful could have 



The Grandmother 41 

been had in Salem for love or money. 
Kind, reticent grandfather carved at his 
end of the table, grandmother presided at 
hers, and probably all the guests helped to 
the dishes near them, — a courtesy then, 
an impropriety now, but changes are not 
always improvements. 

The larsre, square house on Front Street a grand- 
was in a thoroughly disagreeable situa- house. 
tion ; market carts drawn by oxen were 
crowded near the windows, but the door 
once opened, not Aladdin's palace could 
have been so lovely to my eyes as this plain, 
old-time abode. The parlors were less 
than nine feet in height ; the ceiling of one 
was embellished with a beam that looked 
as if it were rough-hewn by an axe, and I 
wondered why it could not have been made 
smooth with the same tool. It was a cozy 
room, with a huge sofa, a lolling-chair, two 
wooden rockers, cushioned to render them 
endurable, and half a dozen chairs, hard 
enough to make the children seated on 
them sufficiently uncomfortable ; yet the 
price was five dollars each, for they were 
well made, and their strength is proved by 
the fact that they still exist in good condi- 
tion. The table had its two drawers, not 
to hide dinner in if unexpected company 



membered 
closet 



42 The Grandmother 

arrived, but to keep the damask cloths 
handy for daily use ; a card-table and oval 
light-stand completed the furniture, and as 
there was not an ornament in the house 
the mantel was unadorned ; even the can- 
dle-sticks would have been thought super- 
fluous. There was a locker in the end 
window which contained nothing more val- 
uable than old newspapers, but on the up- 
A iveii-re- pcr sliclvcs of a closct by the chimney 
were the remnants of the handsome India 
china imported by grandfather : plates and 
bowls of brilliant colors, and about half of a 
delicate tea service with a border of faint 
hues, relieved by dull gilding and his ini- 
tials, I. D., in the same style. The num- 
ber of bowls was diminished by grand- 
mother's habit of giving a large one to each 
of her daughters on her marriage, to wash 
glass and silver in, and I suppose that when 
they broke one they asked for another. 
All that remain are now in my possession, 
and I am proud to say I am so afraid of 
their being cracked that they are utterly 
useless and unused. A parlor on the op- 
posite side of the entry was nicely wain- 
scoted, but we never loved it as we did the 
other dear old room. The chamber fire- 
places were tiled with scriptural enormities 



The Grandmother 4^ 

in pink and blue, on which I pondered with 
a mixture of behef and doubt, for Jonah 
and the bald prophet were a severe tax on 
my credulity. There were no chests of 
finery to be peeped into, no laces, no silks 
or satins. Born of a plain, Puritanic fam- 
ily, Canton crape was the grandmother's 
only wear, with muslin round-eared cap, 
and white kerchief folded over the front of 
the dress : a charming costume for a hand- 
some old lady, but I never ceased to wish 
that she had worn brocades in her youth, 
and had preserved them for her grand- 
children. 

The aged couple died within a month of 
each other, and the light of the annual fes- 
tival almost went out with them ; right or 
wrong, Thanksgiving Day lost much of its 
thankfulness. The verses with which I My crand- 
close this episode of child life will tell the 'Mirro/. 
simple story of a Christian woman, and if 
her type is out of fashion it was eminently 
suited to the age in which she lived. 

MY GRANDMOTHER'S MIRROR. 

It is in a simple framing, 

Not hardly worth the naming, 
More fit for homely dwelling 

Than for chamber of the great ; 



44 The Grandmother 

Yet while I muse before it, 

A light from heaven gleams o'er it, 

Transforming of its plainness 
To a thing of noble state. 

While her beauty all were praising, 

At her mirror she stood gazing, 
And for her I read the story 

Of the shadowy pictures there ; 
Could she have seen them clearly. 

It might have cost her dearly, 
But mercy dims the future 

To save us from despair. 

Still we know the ancient building, 

With the morning sunbeams gilding 
The rooms where peaceful slumbers 

For busy days prepared ; 
Where the father and the mother, 

True helpmeets to each other, 
Made by love the duties lighter, 

Which their children with them shared. 

'Mid Puritanic teaching, 

Under Calvinistic preaching, 
With a precious six months' schooling, 

She lived for eighteen years ; 
Then with her chosen lover 

She passed the threshold over. 
To bear with him the burden 

Of wedlock's hopes and fears. 

No doubt the deacon blessed her, 

Though he may not have caressed her, — 

When the heart is at the fullest 
There are fewest words to say ; 

And I think a tear-drop started 
To the mother's eyes, when parted 



The Grandmother 4^ 

From her dutiful young daughter 
Upon her wedding-day. 

With earthly comfort round her, 

The rolling years still found her 
Rejoicing in her blessings 

And submissive to her woes ; 
Death visiting her dwelling, 

Some griefs too sad for telling, 
Yet through all her faith sustained her 

In the grandeur of repose. 

To the poor her hand extended. 

Her gifts she always mended, 
'Til the needle-work like broidery 

Upon the garments lay ; 
Her quiet bounties flowing, 

Her kindly lessons showing 
The means to earn a living. 

Which was far the better way. 

Her household daily scanning, 

Its occupations planning, 
No idle bread was eaten 

Where her busy hands were found ; 
Her children all arising 

To call her blessed, prizing 
The deeds of love she scattered 

So graciously around. 

No silk or purple clothing ! 

One might think she looked with loathing 
On scarlet or fine linen 

For those 'mongst whom she trod ; 
Yet I 'm glad that I am able 

To recall the muff of sable, 
And her cloak with sable edging, 

When she walked to worship God. 



^6 The Grandmother 

On the precepts of her Saviour 

She modeled her behavior, 
A chapter always reading • 

Ere she laid her down to rest ; 
Through "pastures green " she wandered, 

By the " still waters " pondered, 
And of all the books she studied 

She loved the Bible best. 

With no vain show to grace her, 

Her works will always praise her, 
And she did her duty bravely, 

Because she feared the Lord. 
In her mirror I see faintly, 

What made her life so saintly 
While she, in clearer vision. 

Has the fullness of reward. 




SALEM SCHOOLS 




schools. 



HE conspicuous instructors of 
the closing years of the eight- 
eenth and the beginning of the 
nineteenth centuries were Mrs. 
Rogers and Mr. Bigelow, both held in very 
high esteem by the most respectable in- 
habitants of Salem. Mrs. Rogers' school saum 
was in the lower part of the town, and con- 
sequently many of her pupils were the 
daughters of the Democratic families ; they 
were very fond of her, and received at her 
hands excellent training in the various 
branches then considered essential to a 
polite education. Mr. Bigelow was, I ven- 
ture to guess, more patronized by the par- 
ents of youthful Federalists ; his reputation 
as a teacher was high ; his scholars were 
attached to him, and imbibed under his di- 
rection a love of literature and a large 
amount of general information. The young 
misses were taught the Greek alphabet and 
pronunciation without knowing the mean- 



48 Salem Schools 

ing of a word, and were set to reading al- 
ternate verses of the New Testament with 
the class of boys ; this exercise must have 
been rather funny and of questionable util- 
ity. 

From several reliable sources I have 
been able to collect as many items con- 
cerning Miss Hetty Higginson's school as 
I could spare room for in the chronicle of 
Salem Salcm school-mistrcsscs. It is necessary 

school- 1 • 1 

mistresses, to bcgm the accouut With a notice of her 
mother, Mrs. Higginson, as she and her 
daughter were in such close sympathy that 
it would not be easy to separate them. She 
was the wife of Mr. John Higginson, regis- 
trar of deeds for Essex County, who died in 
1774, leaving her with their only child, a 
daughter. Mrs. Higginson was a woman 
of large intellect, that might have entitled 
her to fill any position which her altered 
circumstances required for a support, but 
she was so loyal to her king, George HI., 
and so free in expressing her opinions, that 
she became very unpopular, and found it 
discreet to take refuge in Halifax. Dur- 
ing this voluntary exile she maintained 
herself and her daughter by teaching a 
school, but in 1782 she returned to Salem, 
preferring to endure persecution from a 



I 



Salem Schools 49 

few over-zealous Whigs to remaining longer 
an absentee. However, her enemies must 
have been even more virulent than she 
feared to find them, for Dr. Joseph Orne, 
in a letter to Colonel Timothy Pickering, 
said under date 1782, ''Your old friend, AroyaUst 
Mrs. Higginson, has returned, but as she ^ '^' 
is liable by law to be sent back and is quite 
as disagreeable to the people as any man 
would be, there is so great a ferment 
among them that she is obliged to live 
with her friends in Beverly." Soon after 
peace was declared she and her daughter 
opened a school in Salem, which had a 
high reputation under their joint care, and 
afterward under the sole charge of Miss 
Hetty, who survived her mother many 
years ; her pupils were younger, but when- 
ever they left her to attend a more ad- 
vanced school their places were filled by 
ready applicants. Her manner of teaching 
was original, simple, and thorough ; she 
felt as a good mother would feel toward 
the children ; she was indulgent, encour- 
aged them to be frank and free with her, 
but exacted entire obedience. She was 
true herself, and made them love truth. 
When asked what she taught, she would 
sometimes laughingly reply, " Ethics ; " to 



anecdotes. 



^o Salem Schools 

a superficial observer it might seem that 
she taught nothing, but her answer in sport 
could be accepted as correct in earnest. 
Her manners were courtly and her conver- 
sation was replete with dignity, kind feel- 
ing, and sound sense. 

Her pupils were of many generations. 
Sundry The first slight record is taken from my 
letter-writer, who held the honorable rank 
of "bussee," a little girl kept to be kissed 
by her when good. I strongly suspect that 
Miss Hetty was apt to choose a pretty as 
well as an obedient child for this reward ; 
it would be consistent with her love of the 
beautiful. The second anecdote is from 
a pupil of much later date, who remem- 
bered how Miss Hetty would divide a large 
strawberry among six or eight scholars as 
a mark of approval, and that they were 
better pleased by the atom seasoned by 
her praise than they would have been by 
a plateful without it. The third story is 
from her own lips ; therefore it is especially 
valuable, and must be given with a judi- 
cious reserve of a surname for the hero. 
Miss Hetty told her friend that the chil- 
dren came running in with horror depicted 
on their faces, exclaiming, " Oh, Miss Het- 
ty, Miss Hetty, George has been 



tempered 
with mercy. 



Salem Schools 5/ 

treading on a caterpillar ! " and as she was 
probably even then laying the foundations 
of future " anti-cruelty to animals " socie- 
ties, it would not have been consistent to 
pass over such a deed without notice. She 
accordingly said, " George, you 've been 
treading on a caterpillar. Now come here, 
George, lie down, and let me serve you 
as you have been serving the caterpillar." 
The little culprit, though dreading his justice 
doom, bent down ; Miss Hetty's foot was 
raised, the children, we may fancy, gazing 
with mingled satisfaction and terror, when 
just as the touch was to be felt the awful 
foot was withdrawn and George dismissed. 
Her favorite discipline for a restless child 
was to set him or her to holding an old 
dictionary by one of its leaves, a process 
requiring a rigid immovability ; on one oc- 
casion when the child had managed to tear 
the leaf, she mended it, and bade him hold 
it between thumb and finger the rest of 
the allotted time. 

Miss Hetty was sixth in descent from 
Rev. Francis Higginson, pastor of the First 
Church. She was born in 1764 and died 
in 1846 ; she cannot be soon forgotten, as 
she and the school she ruled over so effi- 
ciently were unique specimens of a wise 



52 Salem Schools 

monarch and obedient subjects. There 

was a school for very young children in 

• the upper part of Broad Street, kept by a 

Miss Oliver, and I was sent there to pass 

several hours per diem at the advanced age 

of two and a half years ; my thirst for 

learning was probably not intense, but I 

am sure that I remember the agony of 

Early swallowiug a pin. I learned to read, spell, 

education. ^^^ g^^ ^£^^^ ^ fashion during the year of 

kindly teaching, but I suppose it was not 
to be educated, only to be got out of the 
way, that I was so early made a member of 
the academy, — an expedient in high favor 
in a town where there were few nurseries 
and plenty of children. 

Miss Mary Scallon, assisted by her step- 
sister. Miss Lucy Haraden, was the head 
of a school somewhat famous in its day. 
At the upper end of the school-room the 
scholars learned to spell all the words in 
an abridged dictionary, were made to 
read distinctly, and acquired as much of 
Murray's grammar as repeated plodding 
through it could lodge in their brains. I 
A sHtcb was taught to sew with invisible stitches, 
and filled two samplers with a variety of 
alphabets over my signature. I was proud 
of both these accomplishments. Miss Lucy 



in time. 



Salem Schools 5^ 

was the daughter of Captain Jonathan Har- 
aden, who distinguished himself as a ship- 
master and privateer of cool and undaunted 
courage. We loved her for her unfailing 
patience and gentle rule, recited to her in 
geography and arithmetic, and blotted our 
copy-books for her inspection. We liked 
the elder sister also ; she was a genuine 
New England school-ma'am, very plain of 
speech, could scold on occasions, knew when 
to stop, and invented several queer punish- 
ments, which, however, were not severe. 
I suppose she was peculiar, yet we did not 
question her right to rule us in her own 
fashion, although we may not have approved 
her taste. She was always ready to give Rewanu and 

^ w- o punishments. 

US pleasure if it was deserved, and when 
lessons were over we were allowed to read 
any of the few books on her shelves ; my 
first acquaintance with Charles Lamb was 
made in this way. In summer she kept a 
jug on the Russian stove, which the schol- 
ars filled with flowers from their gardens, 
and they were distributed among good 
girls to take home. There was a room ad- 
joining the school, into which refractory 
subjects were sometimes ordered to repent 
their sins in solitude. This we preferred 
to any other penance, as it contained a 



school. 



^4 Salem Schools 

closet filled with old-fashioned china, pre- 
sided oyer by a richly dressed lady and 
gentleman in the guise of pitchers, and we 
could easily unlock the door, and thus en- 
joy what was meant for a bad quarter of 
an hour. I was happy with my teachers, 
and felt sorry to leave them when removed 
to a school for older pupils. 
Mr. Cole's Mr. Thomas Cole had the pain and pleas- 
ure of educating several generations of the 
Salem girls. For many years he was the 
only instructor of a private school ; the 
other teachers were instructresses. He at 
once took a high rank which he retained, 
and was regarded with favor by his many 
pupils. Manners were certainly awe-in- 
spiring in 1825. Punctually as the clock 
struck eight in summer, nine in winter, and 
two p. M. both seasons, the masculine step 
was heard in the entry, the babel of femi- 
nine voices was hushed, the door opened, 
and — enter Mr. Cole. The scholars rose 
in their seats, and he walked 'mid solemn 
silence to the dais on which his desk and 
seat were placed ; then gravely looking at 
us, he bowed a permission to be seated. 
Prayers and reading of the Bible followed, 
after which recitations, good, bad, and in- 
different, were commenced. Recess was a 



Salem Schools ^^ 

season of rollicking fun ; leaving the school 
was apt to be noisy when we were well 
outside the door ; this annoyed the teacher, 
and now and then we were scolded in mod- 
eration for running or loud talking. At 
the close of the scholastic year there was Examination 
an examination under the auspices of a '^''^' 
committee generally holding parental re- 
lation to some of the scholars. I disap- 
proved of it, and declined attendance after 
one trial ; any misery was preferable to 
blunders under the gaze of these fatherly 
gentlemen. At the age of sixteen, having 
achieved a suitable amount of ignorance, 
I left the able teacher and pleasant school- 
mates, exchanging them for home reading 
and domestic life. Age is always regret- 
ting the follies of youth. 

Mr. H. K. Oliver was a good instructor, 
and made himself exceedingly popular with 
his pupils. Miss E. W. Ward's admirable 
school was a regular drill ; what she ex- 
pected her scholars to understand and re- 
cite was never by any lapse of memory 
forgotten. To teach how to study is a 
rare gift. Miss Ward was endowed with 
the faculty, and the success of her school 
was largely due to its possession. 

The Chestnut Street school-house, which 



5^ Salem Schools 

stood on the left side of the street, was, 
after the erection of the several handsome 
mansions, with their pleasant gardens, re- 
moved to Green Street, and was thence- 
forth known as the "Green Street school." 
It was a wooden building, wholly unattrac- 
tive in appearance, but the school boasted 
a proud preeminence, and was taught by 
divers Harvard graduates, who while study- 
ing law had ample time to make the boys 
study their lessons. It was exclusively 
up-town, and always had every place filled 
Exhibition by eager applicants. The annual exhibi- 
Green Street tlou was a grand entertainment, to which 
brothers and sisters went with mingled 
feelings of wonder and delight. The cel- 
ebrated mathematician, Professor Peirce, 
who was one of the scholars, often selected 
remarkable pieces for his younger brother 

to declaim on these occasions. So C 

once rose, and after the regulation bow re- 
cited with undisturbed gravity the poem 
of the " five brave maids braiding broad 
braids ; " then with another bow he left the 
platform, receiving an ovation of claps for 
his manner of doing full justice to the im- 
mortal verse. The boys, according to their 
wont, had asked for an extra holiday, which 
was promised on condition that the request 



Salem Schools 57 

should be made in Latin, whereupon a pupil 
who was ambitious to prove himself a thor- 
ough classic handed his learned paper to 
the teacher with the signature of Peterus 
Argentum ; the translation is left to the 
reader. These few memories are all that 
remain of the Green Street school, so fa- 
mous in its day. 

We had excellent dancing-schools many Heeis versus 
years before the advent of Papanti. Mon- 
sieur Mallet taught his pupils well, doing 
his best for awkwardness and bringing 
grace to perfection. Many a lifelong celeb- 
rity began her career in the hall on Cen- 
tral Street corner. One of the most charm- 
ing was Charlotte F , whose feet seemed 

to dance of themselves, finding teaching su- 
perfluous ; and her cousin, Mary B. W y 

was a little beauty and a reigning belle. 
Our distinguished mathematician earned an 
early fame by his masterly performance of 
the sailor's hornpipe, and he rises to my 
view, as I write, in blue jacket, white trou- 
sers, and tarpaulin hat ; it was the prophecy 
of a great renown. Monsieur De Granval, 
the second teacher, vanished from sight in 
3. pas seitly leaving us to endure with what 
philosophy we could muster the disappoint- 
ment of no dancing-school ball. As to 



5^ Salem Schools 

Other the Other numerous schools for head and 

schools. 

foot, IS not their record in the hearts of 
the oldest inhabitants of Salem ? — and 
there I must leave them. 




SHOPS AND SHOPKEEPERS 




HAVE procured the lace for your 
sister, and send with it the piece 
you left as pattern ; there is short 
of two yards. Mrs. Oilman put 
the whole at 14s. 6d., and if it does not 
answer it may be returned." On reading 
this account of a commission executed 
more than eighty years ago, I began to 
think, Who is this accommodating lady ? 
By association of ideas I made a guess that 
proved right, and then heard the whole 
story from her granddaughter. Mrs. Gil- Romance 

.1 • 1 r ' 1 <^nd reality. 

man was the young widow of a once rich 
man, who had made a fortune, built a hand- 
some house, and lived in a very expensive 
style at Gloucester. At his death there 
was nothing left for the wife and four chil- 
dren, so the brave, energetic woman imme- 
diately moved to Salem, and opened a shop, 
which prospered under her good manage- 
ment until she was able to build the house 
so many years occupied by the family of Mr. 



6o Shops and Shopkeepers 

J. G. King. But here luck deserted her ; 
she was induced to enter into partnership 
with a young man, highly recommeftded, 
who turned out a scoundrel, for whose 
debts she, to her astonishment, found her- 
self liable. Then she settled her affairs 
and went to Cambridge, where she opened 
a boarding-house for students. Her only 
son graduated at Harvard College, and 
was the author of the immortal " Fair Har- 
vard," and this is why I have given a slight 
sketch of so good a specimen of the Salem 
shopkeepers. 
Successful Thirty or forty years ago I occasionally 
made a shopping excursion through Essex 
Street, and could find almost everything 
that the feminine soul desired. Now too 
many of the old buildings have disap- 
peared, and where they have been allowed 
to remain plate-glass has usurped the place 
of dingy little panes, and the pageantries 
of modern advertisements attract the eye 
where once a few modest pieces of cotton 
or calico were all we had to look at. The 
names on some of the signs over the doors 
are as legible in my jumble of a memory 
as if they were still there, and I can read, 
as I pass on, Mrs. M. T. Ward, Mrs. Bach- 
elder, Hannah Harris, Francis Choate, 



shopping. 



I 



Shops and Shopkeepers 6i 

Thomas Downing, Ann M. Rust, Hannah 
Putnam, and General Hovey, but I regret 
that the letters of a few are partially ob- 
scured, so that I cannot decipher them. I 
am not sure that Miss Sally Bacon's name 
was on ever so small a sign ; if it was not, its 
absence must be accounted for by the fact 
that it would have been superfluous in the 
locality. The residents of the neighbor- 
hood must have had their every-day wants 
amply supplied by her stock in trade, which 
was piled from floor to ceiling, " a mighty 
maze, yet not without a plan." Marbles useful in- 
and muslin, tape and tea, raisins and ruf- ''°"^'''"^'"* 
fling, candles and cotton, soap and sewing 
silk, nuts and needles, pins and pitchers, 
cloth and candies, — ask for anything ; you 
were sure to get it with a promptness that 
bore honorable testimony to the order of 
the establishment. I am glad to know that 
she has an able successor in the person 
of her former assistant, Miss Maria Louisa 
Rhodes. On the other side of the street 
divers ordinary hucksters displayed in 
their windows gingerbread horses, men, 
and women (but no elephants), like those 
devoured by the young cannibal at the 
pathetic cent shop in the " House of the 
Seven Gables.'* It is a pity that Haw- 



62 Shops and Shopkeepers 

Nathaniel thomc did Hot lovc the town about which 
he wrote such beautiful stories. The shy, 
heroic spinster and httle Annie, in the 
charming freedom of childhood, walking by 
his side through the old Main Street, with 
look and word ask us to forget his lack of 
appreciation, and so with our whole hearts 
we forgive him, in consideration of what he 
has done for us. 

Two well- Mrs. Bachelder's was a favorite resort 

remembered , ^ . , 

shops. for those who wanted a good article, were 

willing to pay a good price for it, and were 
not in a hurry. The deliberate movements 
of the comely mother and her two daugh- 
ters, with the occasional allusions to do- 
mestic affairs, made an amusing variety 
in the morning walk ; and if we really had 
no time to spare, the granddaughter, Han- 
nah, quick, bright, and sharp, could restore 
the balance of power at her own especial 
counter, and wait on us with dexterous 
celerity. Her mother, Mrs. Harris, in the 
immediate neighborhood, boasted two at- 
tractions, a circulating library, limited, and 
gibraltars in boundless quantity. She had 
the credit of reading all the novels, in order 
to be sure that they contained nothing in- 
jurious to the youthful mind ; perhaps she 
read them to please herself ; in either case 



Shops and Shopkeepers 6^ 

she deserved admiration and respect, for to 
wade through " EveHna " or " Sir Charles 
Grandison," with the " Mysteries of Udol- 
pho " that frightened me out of several 
nights' sleep, was an act of perseverance 
not often equaled. 

Miss Ann M. Rust was one of the con- 
spicuous milliners, Miss Hannah Putnam 
was the other. Miss Rust had the larger 
collection of finery, with shelves full of 
handsome ribbons and glass show-cases 
of rich embroideries, in addition to the 
inevitable bonnets. She once imported 
a quantity of exquisite French caps, the 
strings of which were naturally a little 
crushed in the transit, and they were soon 
disposed of to eager purchasers ; on inno- 
cently observing to a very enthusiastic 
aunt, who had bought one, that a warm 
iron would make all right, she indignantly "Parh, 
exclaimed, " What, smooth a crease made Juutfi love 
in Paris .? No indeed ! never ! " '*'' '''^'•" 

Miss Putnam had always on hand pretty 
bonnets, either brought from New York or 
made in the shop, and at certain seasons a 
trip up-stairs revealed many novelties to 
our unaccustomed eyes. It was quite an 
object to call early in the morning, for cus- 
tomers were numerous and the stock not 



invention. 



64 Shops and Shopkeepers 

too extensive, but there was enough for 
the punctual, and the tardy went without. 
Miss Hannah had a correct eye for the fit- 
ness of things, and openly said that there 
was no one in Salem who knew how to put 
on a bonnet as well as a certain lady living 
at the upper end of Chestnut Street ; as 
this was an undeniable truth, nobody pre- 
sumed to contradict it. 

Mr. Choate and Mr. Downing were ex- 
actly what gentlemen should be in their 
A Salem espccial placcs. The bundle handkerchief 
that I bought as a souvenir at Archer and 
Downing's was, after twenty-three years' 
ownership, appropriated by some one who 
probably was as glad to get it as I was 
sorry to lose it. It must have been taken 
from the house, as I valued it too highly to 
make it useful to anybody but myself. I 
have lost dozens of these convenient arti- 
cles, for they seem to rank with umbrellas ; 
to be borrowed and not returned. Is there 
no mild punishment for such minor sins } 

General Hovey had a stately air that I 
used to think was military, although the 
sword was changed for a yard-stick. 

Mrs. M. T. Ward will be long remem- 
bered by all who are old enough to have 
profited by her taste. My youthful pur- 



Shops and Shopkeepers 65 

chases were restricted to her shop, not 
being permitted to patronize any other, so 
I had ample opportunity to decide that 
the French or English calicoes and the " a virtue 
fine-checked muslins made the prettiest of ''-^"''""^^• 
gowns for a school-girl. A gentleman well 
known for acts of delicate kindness asked 
to be allowed to make the first purchase 
on the day that she commenced business, 
and I am sure that she stood behind the 
counter like a little duchess to sell some- 
thing of the nicest to her friend, Mr. 
Henry Pickering, when he came down 
bright and early to make sure of being in 
good season. We will leave her in the 
highest rank of our honorable Salem shop- 
keepers, a shade among the many shadows 
I have evoked. 

As bread is the staff of life, on which so 
many of us lean, it must not be forgotten 
that the earliest French bread, delicate 
rolls, and twists, long and braided, were 
brought to Salem by John A. Innis. He 
and his small hand-cart were the perfection 
of neatness. At first he called at our 
doors with the light and tempting con- 
tents, but after a while set up a bakery and 
shop. Half the charm lay in that cart, it The charm 

^ of neatness. 

was so new and neat, yet I suppose the 



66 Shops and Shopkeepers 

bread was just as good when it was sent for 
instead of being brought, for there was no 
diminution of excellence, such as too often 
occurs after a business is established. Milk 
biscuits, a strictly Salem manufacture, were 
sold by David Dowst. I think he was Da- 
vid ; he certainly was not Goliath, — only 
a weak sort of a man, who was fortunate in 
a smart wife, renowned for excellent cake ; 
and it was a pleasant errand to take a bas- 
ket to their house in a court opening from 
Chestnut to Essex Street, and choose a 
variety of nice things from the tidy room 
over the bakery. These biscuits were still 
made a few years ago, when large quanti- 
ties were eaten for " old sake's sake " at a 
delightful family reunion in the Pickering 
House on Broad Street. 
Molly Anybody who has never tasted " Molly 

Saunders. -^ ■' 

Saunders' gingerbread " has missed a pleas- 
ure. In a small shop on Central Street 
was a door, half wood, half glass, such as 
were formerly so universal, and the chil- 
dren could peep at the destined feast be- 
fore lifting the latch, thereby tinkling a 
bell to give notice of a customer. The 
common name of this gingerbread was 
" upper shelf " and " lower shelf." " Upper 
shelf" had butter in it, "lower shelf" had 



Slwps and Shopkeepers 6y 

none; "upper shelf" was three cents a 
cake, "lower shelf" was two; and both 
were so delicious that whoever chose the 
one longed also for the other, but youthful 
funds were limited. It appeared and disap- 
peared with the maker. Whether she was a mystery. 
Mrs. or Miss is not now known ; if she 
retired from business during life, or left 
it in dying, is a doubt not to be settled. 
The Bedneys were the next occupants of 
the shop ; their election cake was good, but 
they were merely successors, not rivals, to 
the immortal Molly Saunders. 




NOTABLES 



1 


§ 



profession. 



F there was one thing more than 
another in which Salem took de- 
Ught, it was the collection of no- 
tables and eccentric mortals which 
made no inconsiderable part of the pop- 
ulation ; and what a charm of individual- 
ity they added to the little town as they 
walked the streets in unconscious Celeb- 
ris medical Tity ! The eminent physician, Dr. Tread- 
well, would have a crowd at his heels if he 
should reappear in that high-crowned hat, 
suit of black, knee - breeches, and square- 
toed shoes, worn as he plodded from house 
to house on his daily round of visits. Na- 
ture endowed him with oddity ; a kind 
heart and clear head kept the display of it 
within bounds ; his quick perception and 
dry humor made him an amusing friend 
in his professional capacity, whenever he 
found a patient who could appreciate these 
qualities, and he enjoyed serious discourse 
with any one interested in matters worth 



exterior. 



Notables 69 

talking about. He hid deep and tender a kind 
feeling under the crusty manner in which aVougl! " 
he sometimes, not always, indulged ; he 
would growl like a bear at anything that 
did not please him, and shed tears of sor- 
row over the little children who, in his 
homely phrase, slipped through his fingers. 
He has slammed the door in the face of 
the tailor sent by a bereaved family to take 
his measure for a mourning suit, with a re- 
mark more honest than courteous : " I don't 
want any clothes ; got more now than my 
Dolly can take care of." He was a skillful 
practitioner and a thoughtful scholar ; he 
accumulated a valuable theological library, 
was an able commentator on the Scrip- 
tures, and liked a discussion on doctrinal 
points. It was a sad day in Salem when 
the bells tolled for his sudden death ; for- 
tunately a portrait is preserved by a sil- 
houette which represents him almost as he 
was in life. His son. Dr. John, took his 
father's place at his death. He had his 
full share of peculiarity, but endeared him- 
self to his patients by a kindness and devo- 
tion that increased in proportion to his 
personal likings ; he was never negligent, 
but he could be particularly kind, and for- 
tunate were those who ranked high on his 
list. 



yo Notables 

Dr. Oliver was a doser of the old school ; 
the row of vials displayed during an ill- 
ness over which he presided was appalling. 
He had many excellences, but did not at- 
tach enough importance to the text, *' Clean- 
liness next to godliness." He seemed to 
Science made regard a thermometer as an instrument by 
which to regulate change of raiment, add- 
ing or discarding with the rise and fall of 
quicksilver. He was a skillful physician, 
an adept in elegant literature, a scientific 
musician, and a true gentleman ; and there 
is also a silhouette that gives a faithful like- 
ness of this respected Salem worthy. 

Of the first ninety years of the cente- 
narian. Dr. Holyoke, I am not able to tell 
much ; it is to be presumed that his stand- 
ing was high during his medical career, but 
he left the profession many years before 
his death. He did not like to be treated 
with too much of the respect due to vener- 
able age, and quietly put aside bread and 
butter that a lady rather officiously spread 
for him at our table, where he was taking 
tea, and helped himself to what he chose 
to eat ; old folks dread being thought su- 
perannuated, and this should always be re- 
membered by those who would be attentive 
to them. He was a worthy citizen, and 



Notables yi 

a man of excellent sense ; he lived to be a century of 
nearly a hundred and one years old, and 
received the homage of a public dinner at 
the close of his century. His trim little 
figure clad in vestments of delicate drab 
color, his dried-up face in the setting of a 
brown wig, and steps supported by a not 
very necessary cane, was daily seen on the 
streets until the last few days of life. He, 
like the other doctors, is perpetuated in a 
silhouette. The artist who took all these 
wonderful likenesses was stationed at a 
window, from which he patiently watched 
for the passing of the celebrities, and it was 
through a lucky suggestion that the suc- 
cessful attempt was made. 

The famous pedestrian of Salem was 
William W. Oliver, Deputy Collector of the 
Custom House ; he was very tall and 
agile, walking as though he were the in- 
ventor of the seven-leagued boots, and wore 
them when he stepped over to Lynn to see 
what detained the cars that first ran upon 
the Eastern Railroad. He was not partic- 
ular to don a walking suit and thick shoes 
for his excursions, so he was often seen 
flouting along the streets in silk or gingham 
gown of the period, and slippers perhaps 
down at the heel ; no matter if he raised 



7^ Notables 

clouds of dust or waded through puddles. 
Mr. Oliver was a powerful engine in run- 
ning the machinery of the Custom House ; 
A faithful he knew all that there was to be known of 
its business, and so long as he lived he 
could give name, date, and minute account 
of transactions which may sometimes, when 
too elaborate, have been less interesting to 
the listeners than to the narrator. He 
reveled in the memories of old commercial 
prosperity, and was a valuable reminder 
of the past and a striking specimen of the 
ever present oddities, among whom "he 
literally kept the noiseless tenor of his 
way." 

Who that has lived since 1820 in the 
City of Peace will fail to recall with feel- 
ings of respect the wiry figure of Peter 
Charles Louvrier, gallant and honorable 
Frenchman } During several years he was 
the sole instructor in French and music ; 
many a fine musician and thorough French 
scholar have proved the fidelity of his im- 
patient teaching in the one and his untir- 
ing patience in the other ; how he fretted 
us through our blunders and false notes 
by his " Wrong ! wrong ! " and praised our 
smallest successes ; how he made us irri- 
table as he was himself in the morning, but 



Notables y^ 

never let the sun go down on his wrath, as a peace 
his evening sacrifice of a dish of currants °^"'''"^' 
or a beautiful spray of sweet-brier testified ! 
All honor to the generous, impulsive little 
man, who in the land of his adoption was 
never guilty of a mean thought or action ! 
Faithful to his beloved France, he was a 
loyal citizen of this country and a consci- 
entious supporter of its institutions. 

A very notable person before the war Rev. wu- 

... . 1 r ^''^'^* Bent- 

of i8i2, dunng its contmuance, and after uy. 
peace was established, was the Rev. Wil- 
liam Bentley, pastor of the East Church. 
He devoted all his energies to the service 
of his Maker and his country, and earned 
the love and respect of his parishioners by 
his faithful ministry. He supplied the Re- 
publican journals of the time with articles 
in support of the administration, preached 
allegiance to the good cause from the pul- 
pit, and on some occasions, when he felt 
that his hearers could do better work out- 
side the meeting-house than by remaining 
within, he dismissed them with his bless- 
ing. One Sunday afternoon some of the 
watchful inhabitants of Salem saw the 
British frigates, blockading the port, in 
hot pursuit of an American vessel, name 
unknown, but supposed to be in the mer- 



y^ Notables 

chant service. Mr. Nathaniel Silsbee, 
with one of his associates in business, im- 
mediately drove over the Marblehead road, 
taking his son perched on a foot-stool be- 
tween them. They had not gone far when 
they met a horseman on full gallop to 
Salem, to procure men and cannon for the 
protection of the frigate Constitution ; the '. 
chaise was turned, forces mustered, and 
the parishioners of the East Church were 
advised to go where there was such urgent 
need of help. Dr. Bentley, as a matter of 
course, went with them, but Old Ironsides 
was safe in the harbor before they reached 
the scene of action. In the afternoon 
Sermon hc put asidc his prepared sermon, and 
preached extempore from the text, *' There 
go the ships." While the British were 
in possession of Washington, news was 
brought one Saturday night that Balti- 
more was taken, and in consequence the au- 
dience of Sunday was composed to a great 
extent of women, for the men were too 
anxious to absent themselves from their 
places of resort in such stirring times. On 
the arrival of the mail the rumor was con- 
tradicted. Baltimore was safe and the Brit- 
ish general in command killed. An ab- 
sent parishioner tapped on a window by his 



Notables j^ 

sister's pew and told the glad tidings, on 
which she sent her boy up the pulpit stairs 
to inform Dr. Bentley, who lifted his hands 
to heaven, reverently exclaiming, " Glory 
to God ! Glory to God ! " The late Gov- 
ernor Andrew was responsible for the fol- 
lowing anecdote, and it would be a pity to 
doubt the truth of a tale so beautiful and 
touching. At a time when foreigners were 
almost unknown in Salem, a poor French- 
woman came there, lonely and friendless. 
She could not speak a word of our lan- 
guage, and there was no Catholic priest to 
administer the last consolations and shrive 
the parting soul, but Dr. Bentley was told 
of her sad condition, and went to her bed- 
side with words of comfort in the accents 
of her own dear land ; he heard her con- a good 
fession, gave her absolution, and thus en- 
abled her to depart in peace. Then he 
wrote an account of what he had done 
to his friend Bishop Cheverus, of Boston, 
who replied, " You have acted well, my 
brother, and I thank you for the deed of 
mercy." 

There was a strongly marked individu- 
ality among the members of the East so- 
ciety, and the very loyalty for which they 
were distinguished created a prejudice 



Samaritan. 



7^ Rotables 

against them as a body corporate, not as 
individuals. They were devoted partisans 
of the government, and gave Uberally of 
their wealth to aid in prosecution of the 
war. Salem was a Federal town, and there- 
fore opposed the politics of the reigning 
powers in public station or private life. 
Progress. Thc pcoplc bclieved in their minister and in 
his theology, which was of advanced liber- 
ality, and the more conservative churches 
of the same denomination held themselves 
aloof from the man who dared to say what 
he thought, whose convictions were just 
and clear, whose reverence was not to be 
doubted, and whose high sense of duty 
gained the love and respect of all who 
took the trouble to know him. The doctor 
was a great linguist and a remarkable man ; 
his style in writing was involved and pecul- 
iar, but it would not have been judicious 
to express this opinion to his parishioners. 
Even his prejudices were allowed to have 
unbounded influence : he did not approve 
of organs, therefore bass-viol, fiddle, and I 
don't know what else did duty as orchestra ; 
but I have my suspicions that there was 
no great love of music in the original con- 
gregation, or it would not have been pa- 
tiently endured so long. Why he was al- 



Notables yj 

ways spoken of as '' old Dr. Bentley " is a 
mystery, for he was not half-way between 
fifty and sixty at the time of his sudden 
and lamented death. Never was pastor 
more beloved, and seldom has a memory 
been so fondly cherished. 

Under the ministry of his successor, the 
Rev. James Flint, three innovations were 
made : an organ, a new hymn-book, and a 
new church. I suppose the young folks chancer and 
talked the old folks out of their wishes into 
their own, for the organ made its appear- 
ance, and, — 

" The music floating through psalm and hymn 
Pervaded the ancient aisles so dim, 
Sweeping away the doctor's whim 
Into the dusty gallery." 

One reform generally leads to another, and 
next it was found that new hymn-books 
were an absolute necessity, but the change 
was allowed only because the old books 
were in a dilapidated condition. The se- 
lection had been made by Dr. Bentley, and 
his friends were unwilling to discard it. 
The feeling was natural, but the sacrifice 
of sentiment was made, and a new hymn- 
book was compiled by Dr. Flint, retaining 
as many as possible of the old favorites. 
The Rev. William Swett, of Lynn, was the 



the purpose. 



y8 Notables 

principal agent in this movement ; he saw 
the urgency of the case, and had received 
a hint on the subject from some of his 
friends, so after reading the hymn he ad- 
dressed the choir in these words : " Sing 
the first five verses ; that is, if your books 
contain them." A smile might have been 
seen on many faces, and the conspirators 
were well pleased with the success of the 
Eloquence to plot. Dr. FHut, wlth cloqucut and pathetic 
allusion to the squalor of the walls and dis- 
comfort of the pews and pulpit, preached 
the old meeting-house down, and the peo- 
ple built a new East Church on Washing- 
ton Square, with satisfaction to all con- 
cerned. He lived several years to enjoy 
his achievement, and kept his reputation as 
a good sermonizer, a wit, and a man of 
varied intellectual gifts. His colleague, the 
Rev. Dexter Clapp, won the interest of 
the congregation, but as I must keep with- 
in the limit of old times I leave all further 
commendation to the friends who cherish 
his memory with respect and affection. 

In these yachting days it seems es- 
pecially appropriate to speak of the yacht 
of 1817, designed and built in Salem by 
Retire Becket, a noted ship-builder, for 
the prominent merchant and ship-master, 



Notables 79 

Mr. George Crowninshield. He made a 
handsome fortune by his interest in sev- 
eral privateers and his bravery as com- 
mander of many of them, among which the 
America held a foremost rank. He had all An ideal 
the attributes with which an ideal sailor is 
endowed : he was generous, skillful, and 
daring, and was warmly attached to his 
profession. He was a man of attractive 
presence and a good deal of a dandy, choos- 
ing to have everything belonging to him 
the best that money could buy, but he had 
taste enough to regulate this love of show, 
and never permitted it to descend to a com- 
monplace exhibition of finery. His chival- 
rous character was displayed in obtaining 
the bodies of our Lawrence and Ludlow, 
who were killed on the Chesapeake when 
she was captured by the Shannon. He 
chartered the Henry at his own expense, 
manned the vessel with a crew composed 
of twelve ship-masters, and sailed to Hali- 
fax to pay the debt of gratitude. Their re- 
ception was honorable to the English and 
highly satisfactory to the Americans ; the 
request was promptly complied with, and 
the bodies of the brave officers were 
brought to Salem, where a vast concourse 
of people assembled to pay the last respects 
to the illustrious dead. 



tra's Barge. 



80 Notables 

All who know Mr. Crowninshield's love 
of the ocean, his appreciative sense of 
beauty and his ample means for gratifying 
it, must see that the creation of the Cleopa- 
tra's Barge was inevitable. It is a mercy 
that she was not christened " Concordia's 
The cieopa- Car," as was at first intended. The Cleo- 
patra's Barge was so magnificent as not to 
provoke a smile or be thought over-ambi- 
tious when the original was mentioned ; 
but what could have ennobled that car ? 
Spiked cannon and swords turned to 
ploughshares would have been the appro- 
priate decorations. It must be remem- 
bered that splendor was unknown in ves- 
sels at that time, and it is no wonder that 
unbounded admiration was excited by such 
a novelty. 

The account that follows is an extract 
from a letter written by a lady to a young 
friend, selected for its accuracy and for the 
fact that it is by an eye-witness : " But for 
sober description the sleeping room is very 
pretty, the hangings of the bed a rich 
variegated yellow patch, full curtains and 
handsome fringe. We found a yellow cat 
lying on the bed ; the captain said she 
came on board of her own accord, and had 
chosen her position, and he intended to 



Notables 8i 

take her with him for good luck. His Description 
' hall,' as he styles it, is large and lighted tl^sBarg^.' 
from the top ; in the centre hangs a superb 
lamp that cost ^150. The beams of the 
ceiling are edged with a gilt beading, and 
two ropes covered with red silk velvet 
twisted with gold cord are passed along, to 
take hold of when the vessel rolls. There 
are two elegant sofas, about the length of 
four chairs each, the seats of similar vel- 
vet ; a border of gold lace on the edge and 
a deep red fringe. The design on the 
back is four harps (lyres), the strings of 
large brass wire, and the wood mahogany 
and burnt-maple. Cost $400. A Brussels 
carpet, orange color and brown with a 
mixture of green ; two square mirrors at 
opposite ends, with gilt frames ; a lamp 
each side, with a gilt eagle standing by. 
The finish of the room, maple and mahog- 
any varnished ; columns with gilt capitals 
alternated with cupboards, through the 
glazed doors of which we saw the china 
and glass. Captain Ben opened one, and 
said, ' See if we men have not some taste 
in arranging a china closet.' The plate is 
very rich : a superb tea-urn, twelve or fif- 
teen inches high, with a lamp underneath, 
sugar dish and cream pitcher correspond- 



82 Notables 

ing, and two dozen tumblers. Captain 
George unfolded the table linen and showed 
us his kitchen. Beside all these rooms 
and Captain Ben's, is another in the stern, 
which serves as a drawing-room to the 
* hall' In the forward part are the sailors' 
rooms, where we did not go ; state-rooms 
with curtains. The sailors are dressed 
Transforma- uniformly. Wc saw a very dirty boy on 
the wharf, running and kicking up his 
heels. Captain Ben said, ' That is to be 
my cabin-boy, and when he is washed, and 
scraped, and dressed in uniform, you will 
call him handsome.' The capstan I ad- 
mire, but must tell you about that when 
we meet. It is matched by the figure of 
an Indian, with his arrows on his back, to 
stand on deck. Among all these beauties 
I have neglected an important one. Under 
the mirrors at each end of the room is a 
large golden cornucopia, and around the 
walls as a cornice is a row of gilt hat-pins, 
perhaps for the King of Naples to hang 
his hat on, as I hear the captain says the 
royal guest is to sit on that sofa. I hope 
I have not tired you in telling so much 
about Captain George and his Barge." 

The first voyage of the yacht, unfortu- 
nately destined to be the last, exceeded 



Notables 8j 

the most sanguine expectations of the 
owner. Captain Benjamin Crowninshield, 
of Marblehead, commanded the beautiful 
brig, and Captain George was a passenger. 
At the numerous ports of the Mediter- Elegant hos- 
ranean in which she anchored, crowds of dhtinguhbed 
the inhabitants came on board, among ^""^' 
them many distinguished individuals and 
high dignitaries. It has been said that 
the Pope accepted an invitation to visit 
her while she lay at Civita Vecchia, the 
seaport of Rome, but this cannot here be 
vouched for, and I take the liberty to 
doubt it. Madame Mere, the mother of 
Napoleon, and the famous Pauline were 
also guests, and the latter presented to 
their hospitable entertainer a dark green 
agate box, with a small oval, a fine Roman 
mosaic, on the lid, and a lock of her broth- 
er's hair. Both of them have been pre- 
served as precious mementos in the Crown- 
inshield family, and two pictures of the 
Barge, painted at Genoa, are in the pos- 
session of a grand-nephew. The whole 
voyage seems like a triumphal progress; 
and when, with colors flying, the Cleo- 
patra's Barge entered Salem Harbor, she 
was welcomed by the vast crowds assem- 
bled on the wharves with a joyful greeting, 



84 Notables 

due to the gallant enterprise and the suc- 
cess attending its accomplishment. A 
second trip was announced for the next 
year, but the plans were frustrated by 
the sudden death of the generous, large- 
hearted Captain George Crowninshield, a 
few weeks after his return to Salem. 

I have been looking with admiring eyes 
at two mantels, one yet in the Essex 
Billy Gray. Housc, whcrc the rich merchant Billy Gray 
lived from 1801, the year in which he built 
it, to 1809, when he left Salem in conse- 
quence of the bitter animosity of the Fed- 
eralists, because he favored the embargo 
and they detested it. Probably the change 
in merchant vessels may have sent him to 
Boston in a few more years, the increase 
of size requiring a larger harbor ; but it 
was a pity that an honorable man, with 
great wealth and a love of hospitality, 
as shown by the numerous evening par- 
ties alluded to in the " Old Letters," 
should have chosen to quit the little town 
where he might have been so useful and 
respected, if he had stayed long enough to 
try the experiment. Perhaps he stood in 
front of this same mantel when he finally 
determined to consult his own interests, 
and forsake the place in which he had 



Notables 8^ 

made so much money, and perhaps his po- 
litical enemies wished that they had been 
a little more polite. Be it as it may, the 
house must have been commodious and 
handsome ; but who carved the mantel, 
with its urns, wreaths, and elaborately 
adorned pilasters ? Can anybody tell ? 

The other mantel is the ornament of 
one of the lower rooms in the old Forres- 
ter House, Derby Street, either bought 
or built by Simon Forrester. It is not 
so handsome as that in the house once 
owned by Mr. Gray, yet it is richly carved, 
with a picture - frame over it that is its 
greatest attraction. Mr. Forrester has 
been the subject for a good deal of ficti- 
tious romance, but his youthful adventure 
and subsequent history, as told by himself 
and corroborated by the sister of his wife, 
are interesting, and entitled to belief. 

Simon Forrester's family originated in The Forces- 
Scotland, and his father was apparently 
descended from a younger branch of the 
Barons Forrester, who also hold English 
titles. His father and uncle went from 
Scotland to Ireland, and bought a farm 
of two hundred acres near the Bay of 
Cork. Simon, like many adventurous lads, 
was early smitten with the desire to be 



bragh! 



86 Notables 

a sailor, and on the death of his elder 
and only brother, John, to whom he was 
devotedly attached, he determined to leave 
Ireland, and if possible make his fortune 
Erin go in America. He was educated at Cloyne 
School, or, as it is sometimes called, Cloyne 
College, where he learned all that was 
thought sufficient to fit one for the life 
of a merchant. He was then nineteen 
years old. The laborers on his father's 
land were getting in the harvest, and 
one day, when it was necessary to hurry 
the work, they enlisted their master's 
son in the service ; when all was finished 
he threw down his reaping-hook, say- 
ing, "This is the last time I will reap 
grain in Old Ireland." On the following 
morning, as a market cart was regularly 
sent into Cork, he mounted it, was driven 
to that city, and there took passage to 
Liverpool, where he met Captain Daniel 
Hawthorne, and shipped with him as fresh 
hand before the mast on a voyage to 
America. The story of his employment 
as a servant in Daniel Hawthorne's house 
is a fiction, probably told to emphasize 
his advance as son-in-law to his master ; 
but the fact is that he was taken into Haw- 
thorne's family, treated as a son to whom 



Notables 8y 

he was much attached, and given his eldest 
daughter, Rachel, in marriage. Mr. For- 
rester left a large family of children, sev- 
eral of whom lived many years in Salem. 
His career was honorable and his liberality 
conspicuous, in both his business relations 
and social interests. It is not supposed by 
his descendants that he embellished his 
parlor wall with a pictorial history of his 
life, as he was singularly opposed to osten- 
tation or pretension, and would not have 
chosen the role of hero in his own house- 
hold. Mrs. Forrester must have been pos- a loveiy 
sessed of great attraction, if the lovely pic- "" ■^' 
ture of her old age is a faithful reminder 
of her youth, and the beauty of many 
grandchildren may be considered a proof of 
ancestral charms and graces. 




HAMILTON HALL 



A lady's 
ball. 




N 1859 t^^ Salem Assemblies 
were revived at Hamilton Hall, 
with a modest simplicity suited 
to the short reign of economy 
following in the wake of '57. At the close 
of the season a " Lady's Ball " was given, 
on which occasion Mr. John Remond, the 
ancient caterer of 1805, sent a large glass 
bowl used at the parties of that remote 
period, asking to have it placed on the 
supper table, filled with the celery which 
he provided for salad. When the bowl 
was returned to the polite old man, it was 
accompanied by some doggerel rhymes, 
and no more was thought about the matter 
until they appeared in the " Gazette," to 
which journal Mr. Remond sent them, with 
the history of the hall, which is probably 
correct. The aged ladies and gentlemen 
to whom he alludes must have died soon 
after his notice was written, but justice de- 
mands that it should be printed without 



Hamilton Hall 8g 

the least alteration. Some persons may 
still live who can fill out the names of 
which the initials are given, and tell who 
were the original subscribers remaining in 
1859. 

" Messrs. Editors, — I thank you for utter of 
a space in your paper to insert the article mond. ^ 
on the subject of the Old Bowl, which re- 
appeared at the revival of the Old As- 
sembly, and occupied the place that it did 
more than a half century ago. The lines 
on the Bowl made their way to Higgin- 
son Square, and came into the hands of 
the humble caterer of the Assemblies some 
time last spring, but they have been mis- 
laid, and only were found within a few 
days. It may not be uninteresting to the 
surviving members of that institution. 

"There are only two now living of the 
original subscribers ; one resides in Federal 
Street, between eighty-one and eighty-two 
years of age ; the other in Essex Street, of 
about the same age. Of the female mem- 
bers of the Assemblies, nine survive, — four 
out of the city, the remaining five living in 
it. Of the old tenders, but one remains, 
A. W., who resides on the south side of the 
mall. The stock of the South Building was 



Hall. 



go Hamilton Hall 

taken up in 1804. The first assembly took 
place the Thursday after Christmas, in 1805. 
Hamilton Hamilton Hall was named in honor of Gen- 
eral Alexander Hamilton, who was about 
that time in Salem, and was the guest of 
the Hon. Benjamin Pickman. Those were 
the days when the princely merchants of 
Salem built halls for their sons, daughters, 
and associates, with every convenience nec- 
essary for such an establishment. Every- 
thing was order and decorum, from the 
managers down to the waiting-maids. The 
numbers were called at half past six ; sup- 
per at ten ; music dismissed at twelve. The 
original Assembly took the lead in Ham- 
ilton Hall ; the young men and maidens 
in the Concert Hall followed, and at the 
proper age many of them were introduced 
into the Old Assembly, not without stand- 
ing the test of the white and black balls. 

" If the humble caterer ever had any 
Dutch and Jewish pride, it was at that 
youthful day when the Old Punch Bowl 
took its stand, and he endeavored to serve 
that assemblage to the utmost of his abil- 
ity. But other things are changed as well 
as dancing. The writer understands that 
there are fifteen different public dancing 
places in the city, while formerly there 
were but two. 



Hamilton Hall gi 

"The history of Hamilton Hall should Hamilton 

Hall 

be better understood among the young 
gentlemen and ladies, — they would then 
know how to appreciate it ; and it is 
believed there is not another instance, in 
this section of the country, at least, where 
a hall has been built at the expense of 
twenty-two thousand dollars, for the ex- 
press purpose named above. While the 
hall was building, the proprietors imported 
from Russia the four mirrors that occupied 
the eastern and western portions of the 
room. The dancing there was conducted 
without glittering bayonets and fire-arms. 
We had no seats but the bare white 
benches, neither sofas nor drapery. The 
only decoration we had afterward was 
when the ladies entered. The number of 
the old friends who now survive, who have 
endeavored to keep up the reputation, will 
soon pass away. The writer has no ambi- 
tion to gratify, and nothing for which to 
ask, but to preserve the Old Bowl. Cher- 
ish the hall ; let it stand, and keep it un- 
tarnished for its intended purpose." 



92 Hamilton Hall 



A NEW SONG. 

BY AN "elderly LADY." 

When this old bowl was new, 
The magnates of the land, 
In numbers not a few, 
Did form a joyous band ; 
And many a stately dame, 
So beautiful to view, 
To our assemblies came, 
When this old bowl was new. 

Then ladies bright did shine 
In loveliness and pride ; 
While draped in muslin fine, 
The maidens fair did glide. 
Then waved the ostrich plume 
O'er matrons grand and true, 
In our assembly room, 
When this old bowl was new. 

Knee buckles then appeared 
With silken hose, they say ; 
The rules of Fashion feared, 
All bore despotic sway. 
Then gentlemen were dressed 
In coat of broadcloth blue, 
With white and spotless vest, 
When this old bowl was new. 

The courtly minuet 
And long-lined country dance 
(For beaux and belles as yet 
Had no quadrilles from France) 
Were seen upon the floor. 



Hamilton Hall g^ 

As the dancers swam or flew, 
With graces hovering o'er, 
When this old bowl was new. 



When supper-time came then, 
The Elder Ladies proud 
Were led by gallant men 
Out through the waiting crowd. 
The younger came in place, — 
Their place full well they knew, — 
And yielded with a grace. 
When this old bowl was new. 

The good old times are fled, 
Have vanished far away ; 
The stately dames are dead, 
The men, — oh, where are they.!* 
The minuet is a dream, 
Or like a tale that 's told ; 
The light doth faintly beam, 
Now that new bowl is old. 

Yet Salem numbers still 
Her daughters fresh and fair, 
Who dance with right good will. 
And silks and laces wear. 
Their watch-spring hoops are wide. 
Gowns hang in plenteous fold, 
And they are Salem's pride. 
Now that new bowl is old. 

Bright eyes are glancing yet. 
Fair cheeks are blushing on ; 
But where " Old Ladies " sat 
I gaze, — they all are gone. 
No Elders now are sung, 
The deed would be too bold; 



94 Hamilton Hall 

America is young 

Now that new bowl is old. 

The gallants of to-day, 
In solemn suits of black, 
Still make the ball-room gay, 
While outward show they lack. 
Yes, we can praise them too, 
Nor leave their worth untold, 
Though old times now are new, 
And that new bowl is old. 

Mrs. Remond, the wife of the caterer, 
will be remembered for her charming man- 
ners and good cooking. Her mock-turtle 
soup, venison or alamode beef, and roast 
chickens, with perhaps ducks, and light, 
not flaky pastry, made an ample feast for a 
dozen gentlemen at the fashionable hour of 
two o'clock. Dinners then had one advan- 
tage over dinners now, — the guests knew 
what they were eating. 




A FEW SALEM GENTLEWOMEN 




UR most delightful old lady, one 
whom we all loved and honored, 
was Mrs. Elizabeth Sanders ; her Mrs. Eii:^a- 
mind was of a high order, her ders. ''"" 
heart warm and sympathetic. She was the 
centre of a prosperous and happy family, 
performing well the duties of life, liberally 
bestowing its blessings on the less fortu- 
nate, filling existence with all the graces 
of hospitality, the ornament of a large 
circle of friends and the light of home. 
She was a reformer and a philanthropist : 
reformer of doctors too liberal in the use 
or abuse of drugs, a homoeopathist una- 
wares ; philanthropic in the cause of the 
Indian, whom she regarded as the de- 
throned sovereign of the land. She was 
an attentive listener to the best books, for 
all her knowledge was obtained orally, as 
she was not able to use her eyes in read- 
ing ; she was a lover of -the classics through 
translations, reveled in Ossian, and was a 



g6 A Few Salem Gentlewomen 

critical and devoted admirer of Shake- 
speare. Her house was at the service of 
the grandchildren, whose happy weekly 
meetings in those hospitable parlors can 
never fade from their memories, and it was 
a privilege to reciprocate the unfailing 
kindness by charming birthday festivals, 
sometimes arranged as a surprise, and al- 
ways sure to be most graciously received. 
She was an ideal grandmother, who re- 
tained the devotion of her descendants 
through eighty-seven venerated years, and 
her last sweet words on earth were, " My 
little children, love one another." 
Mh% King. Miss Augusta King, eldest daughter of 
J. G. King, the eminent lawyer and wise 
father, who kindly strove to fit his children 
for the action of life, was a typical con- 
verser among many who talked well, and 
her presence was hailed with pleasure at 
the social meetings she so largely helped 
to make agreeable. There was a charm in 
her conversation that was easier to appre- 
ciate than to describe ; it glowed, it spar- 
kled, it rolled in a deep channel, or rippled 
like a brook when sunshine lies lovingly on 
it. It must have been a well-stored mind 
that could share its wealth with so many 
and never exhaust itself, and we who valued 



A Few Salem Gentlewomen gj 

her while hving treasure the memory of a 
dehghtful companion who did so much to 
brighten the world from which she was too 
early taken. 

Miss Susan Burley, whose name was " a Miss BurUy 
household word " in Salem, where so many yoVn/'^ 
years of her valuable life were passed, was ■^"*'"'^^- 
a highly educated woman, who seemed 
to give an equal share to the acquisition 
of varied knowledge and the bestowing it 
with the devotion of a loving heart on the 
friends and family who gathered around 
her. And how kindly she talked with the 
young people, who almost crowded near 
her chair at the working parties to which 
they went with their mothers ! It was 
thought quite a distinction to be asked a 
question by such a wonderfully wise lady, 
and if it could be answered to her satisfac- 
tion her pleasant commendation was grate- 
fully received ; and even when she was 
only met by a timid silence, the tact with 
which she told what she wished her listen- 
ers to know almost made a bliss of the 
tolerably frequent ignorance. Salem was 
proud of Miss Burley, and although a "mu- 
tual admiration society " was never a much- 
patronized institution, a full appreciation 
of individual importance was usually dis- 
criminating and generous. 



the old 
school. 



g8 A Few Salem Gentlewomen 

Among the few selected from the many 
who might adorn this record of remarkable 
women, I must write a name which a few 
months ago I could not have taken the 
liberty to use, — the name of Miss Mary 
Orne Pickering ; for death, in taking from 
us a valued friend, gives the privilege of 
the bestowal of praise on this gracious lady 
A lady of of thc old school. Shc was so kindly and 
cordial in manner, so careful to observe all 
the charming dues of friendship, that we 
might have been well satisfied without any 
added claims to our regard. But this is 
only the half that might be told ; from 
her father she inherited the high order 
of tastes that enabled her in some in- 
stances, by a correspondence with distin- 
guished men of genius, to finish what re- 
mained incomplete in his life work, and 
this was, to such a mind, a never-failing 
source of happiness. She dearly loved 
the ancestral house where she dwelt on 
her return from a long sojourn in Bos- 
ton, and while she received there so much 
happiness, she bestowed an added grace, 
until it seemed that the portraits on the 
walls were watching her progress from 
strength to strength, while making the 
honored name she bore all the better and 



man. 



A Few Salem Gentlewomen gg 

brighter for having belonged to a generous 
and noble woman. 

It is a mingled pleasure and pain to tell 
of the brilliant women who left their places 
vacant ; such memory is a rich legacy to 
those who knew their worth, and were 
saddened by their removal from all that 
made life honored and happy. Of one it a saiem 

gentlewo- 

is not easy, for those who best knew her, 
to speak with measured praise. The clear- 
est head, the most expansive heart, a won- 
derful insight, that made her judgment of 
character almost unerring, devotion to her 
best beloved, a soul filled with religious as- 
pirations, — all these qualities combined in 
complete harmony to form the character 
of Mrs. Mary Wilder Foote ; and to this it 
may be added that a remarkable power of 
sympathy was perhaps her most delightful 
trait. 

" She brought a joy to add to ours ; 
For those who sit and watch alone, 
Through day and night to make their moan, 
She painted rainbows on the showers. 

" A life so true can have no death, 
Can never know untimely end, 
And we who joyed to call her friend 
Must bless her with our latest breath." 

It would be easy to describe a larger 
number of the delightful women who 



lOO A Few Salem Gentlewomen 

adorned the circle in which they moved, 
but it is only possible, in these limits, to 
say how and why they were so charming. 
"Nof too Some were witty, some were wise, some 
good were deep thinkers, some were careful 

nZur^e'^'"^ rcadcrs, some could talk well, even on 
aiyjoo. u g^j£|-'5 Broomstick," and some had the 
happy faculty of drawing out the talent 
of others. Enough has been written in 
various parts of this little book to show 
the value of a succession of Salem's daugh- 
ters who have passed away at periods more 
or less remote, and if my praise should be 
thought excessive, I can only say that criti- 
cism is not my forte, and those who wish 
for a little more of that subtle article must 
supply it to suit their own notion as to the 
correct proportion of blame and praise es- 
sential to a complete analysis. 





A DREAM OF FAIR WOMEN 

First go the young maidens, next she whom we vaunt 
As the beauty and pride of our dwelling. 

Browning. 

BOUT the years 1 820-1 825 the "oidandyet 
blaze of beauty was at the bright- ^simpiTand 
est in Salem. To be handsome ""^^^ ""'- 
was almost a birthright, and time 
seemed only to change lovely girls into as 
lovely matrons ; they would not grow old, 
they could not grow ugly, and set after 
set followed each other with undiminished 
attractions. So many have left the scene 
of their triumphs that the record is tinged 
with sadness, but my picture gallery is 
filled with portraits, of whom I will try 
to furnish a catalogue that may be guessed 
into completeness. I easily count twenty 
women of remarkable beauty, twenty more 
so charming that in any other place they 
would have been conspicuous, and at least 
three out of four, who met in our par- 
ties or on the streets, were good-looking 



versions. 



102 A Dream of Fair Women 

enough for every purpose of life. I would 
like to give their names at full length, but 
there are some still with us who could 
not be omitted, and would not choose 
to be mentioned ; yet there is no harm 
Old fash- in telling that we had Elizas, Marthas, 

iomd names ^^ -,, -. -■ ^ 

and modern Sallys, Marys, Susans, Elizabeths, Mary 
Janes, Ellens, Claras, Louisas, Hannahs, 
Carolines, Harriets, Rachels, Rebeccas, 
Sarahs, and Charlottes, and I can boast 
that there was not a Mattie, Sallie, Mamie, 
Susie, Nellie, Louie, Carrie, Hattie, or Lot- 
tie, among them. Good, sensible names 
were given in baptism, and their diminu- 
tives were usually reserved for those who 
had a legitimate right to use them. May 
I be permitted to deviate from my rule in 
speaking of Miss S. Ellen Derby, who was 
my childhood's ideal.'* Her pure and ex- 
quisite beauty, as she lived among us, ap- 
pears in perfect harmony with the charac- 
ter developed in after years, that made her 
the angel of the house through a long and 
honored life. I have written this solely 
to gratify myself by a covert allusion to a 
childish incident. 

So ends " A dream of fair women." 



SALEM AND HARVARD 




HE famous class of '29 has always The Har- 
kept itself well before the public of '29.'^^^ 
eye by its intrinsic excellence and 
thorough self -appreciation. A 
class has earned a right to be proud when 
it has given to the world a judge, an ex- 
quisite singer, a delightful poet, a distin- 
guished preacher, a great mathematician, 
the author of " My country, 't is of thee," 
eminent lawyers, good business men, lovers 
of literature, excellent lecturers, and some 
who, missing their opportunities, passed 
through life with remarkable talents not 
well invested, sad reminders of " what 
might have been." 

The gay young girls who frolicked to- 
gether in the four studious (1) years of the 
collegians first claimed them as partners 
in the dance, and always kept up a warm 
interest in their success and high repute. 
Those years were full of fun, and our small 
parties were enjoyed to the utmost limit of 



lettes. 



104 Salem and Harvard 

possibility by the sixteen or twenty youths 
and maidens, who danced to the music of 
the piano " played to the foot " by some 
few of the number. The style of conver- 
sation was rather ambitious, and I really 
think — but perhaps it would be better 
Reasonable not to Say what I think. We met at seven 
simple toi- o'clock, and went home at ten, and we, 
the ladies, felt ourselves sufficiently fine in 
the alternation of silk and poplin for the 
winter, with white cambric and pretty rib- 
bons for the summer. There were heads 
covered with curls, bright faces, and sunny 
tempers, but we were still school-girls, and 
our teacher thought our brains in so un- 
settled a state during "the season " that 
there was not much to be got either in or 
out of them. We were permitted to take 
a country walk once a week, and it was not 
a rare occurrence to be escorted from the 
school, after the corner was turned, by any 
of the five members of '29 who lived in 
Salem. These were often visited by other 
classmates, who were with us on our social 
evenings. If we had been thirty years of 
age instead of ranging from fourteen to 
sixteen, " the conduct of life " on these 
occasions could not have had a more dig- 
nified basis, and any kind hints from older 



Salem and Harvard lo^ 

friends, who had the right to give them, 
were received with deference. A very ele- ^ stately 
gant woman, who probably never was guilty 
of an abrupt movement, used to say to us, 
" Slowly, young ladies ; grace is never in 
a hurry," and we would make our rever- 
ences in the courtesy cotillon, under her 
kind but critical inspection, and glide as 
easily as we could from the parlor where 
we danced, in the fine, handsome house, to 
the dining-room, where we surrounded the 
table on which the simple feast was spread. 
Only three remain of all this happy band, 
the rest have sooner or later trod the lonely 
path, and the two highly respectable grand- 
mothers may take the liberty to change a 
word of the poet's graceful verse in say- 



We ask but one memorial line 

Traced on thy tablet, gracious mother, — 
My children, girls of '29, 

In pace — how they loved each other ! " 




ODDS AND ENDS 



Fashions for 
all ages. 




BRIEF notice of the fashions 
from 1820 to a few years later 
will find a suitable place among 
the "Odds and Ends." When a 
lady reached the age between thirty and 
forty, the walking attire considered most 
elegant, in addition to the unflounced gown, 
was a long shawl of Indian cashmere, with 
palm leaves at the ends and a narrow 
border at the sides ; this was carefull]^ 
adjusted on the shoulders, and draped in a 
graceful festoon over the left arm. A 
"whole flat," that is to say, an uncut Leg- 
horn hat, folded up behind and flapping 
down in front, trimmed elaborately with 
expensive ribbon, was a distinguished head 
gear. 

The young belles wore the prettiest of 
chinchilla caps, with a gold or silver band, 
and, as the face was wholly exposed, a quill- 
ing of thread lace, as a slight protection 
against the wintry winds, was put round 



Odds and Ends loy 

the edge, and brought to the chin on a 
ribbon finished with a bow. The lovely 
rosy faces were fitly adorned by this be- 
coming head-dress, and a silk pelisse of 
deep red or orange-brown set off the pretty 
figures to the best advantage. Two young 
ladies who made a morning call at our 
house on a bright, cold day were absolutely 
radiant. One was Miss E. C, the other 
Miss S. W. It is a dangerous topic, for wedding 
the theme of Salem beauty is inexhaust- '^""^' 
ible, and a friend has told me that she 
was invited to a wedding, some five and 
thirty years ago, at which every woman 
in the room was handsome and charmingly 
dressed. The account may be taken with a 
grain of salt, but it is doubtless very nearly 
accurate. A pumpkin hood was not in- 
frequently worn by the benefactress of the 
Essex Institute, and when any lady was on 
her way to a working party or a tea-drink- 
ing by broad daylight, she put a silk calash 
on her high-puffed, profusely-curled head, 
and walked through the streets with un- 
questioned propriety. 

But to pass the insurance offices was 
like running a gauntlet. The gentlemen 
swarmed out to the sidewalk to stand in 
judgment during at least an hour, and woe 



io8 Odds and Ends 

Running the unto the lucklcss dame or damsel whose 
demeanor and costume did not suit their 
fancy. To do them justice, they probably 
admired more than they condemned, but 
still it was an ordeal, and now and then 
some uncivil commentator, after a steady 
stare, would insinuate that the pretty girls 
walked that way to be "seen of men." 
And what if they did .? But they did n't ; 
and if they did, they had the right to suit 
themselves ; it was not to be expected that 
they would retreat to the back streets be- 
cause the lords of creation chose to dom- 
inate over the main thoroughfare. In those 
days there was no club-house, no billiard- 
room, no restaurant, and the Essex Street 
review was certainly a harmless forerun- 
ner of those modern amusements. In 
*' fancy's eye " I can see the whole row, 
and am really glad that so respectable an 
employment was capable of affording such 
pure enjoyment to our honored ancestors. 

It would be ungracious to omit a passing 
notice of the pleasant parties, sleigh-ride 
frolics, and merry dances in Concert and 
Hamilton Halls, but owing to the number 
of years over which they were scattered 
their only resting-place must be among the 
Odds and Ends. 



Odds and Ends log 

The small reunions at private houses 
were simple, and usually agreeable. The 
sleigh-rides on snapping cold winter even- 
ings were equally enjoyed by the older 
and younger participants in the fun. The 
large sleighs drove from door to door, tak- Our sleigh- 
ing in twenty or thirty ladies and gentle- "^^ 
men, bent on having a good time ; and 
when Lynnfield Hotel was reached, a 
fiddle " put life and mettle in the heels " 
and set the whole company to dancing 
Virginia reels in the long entry, while a 
not over-elegant supper gave us ample re- 
freshment, after our strenuous exertions. 
The dances at Hamilton Hall, where we all And our 
knew not only our partners, but everybody dances. 
in the room, were full of enjoyment, and 
as the evening wore on the excitement was 
on the increase without the aid of wine 
or champagne ; and if ostrich feathers 
were shaken from the hair over which they 
had majestically waved, it was easy to put 
them in the pocket and dance on without 
them. Now and then we attended a mil- 
itary ball, and the best, most dexterous 
dancer ever seen on the floor was Mr. 
Dalton, who could thread the mazes of a 
cotillon, holding the cup of coffee that he 
was about to hand to a lady, without spill- 



band 



jio Odds and Ends 

ing a drop or losing a step of his perform- 
ance. The private balls were charming, 
and as the number of guests never ex- 
ceeded eighty or a hundred there was no 
possibility of a crowd in the spacious rooms 
of the old-fashioned houses. The music 
was usually furnished by the native bands, 
and was so satisfactory as to prevent the 
necessity of an importation from Boston. 
Giimore's " Pat Gilmorc," as he then liked to be 
called, played in a rare degree of perfec- 
tion. How many good things had their 
beginnings in Salem ! There were not so 
many invitations received during the sea- 
son as to make acceptance a matter of 
indifference. Tea-tables were a peculiar 
institution, and the delightful friends who 
assembled on the Tuesday nights of the 
winters of 1851-52 and '54 will always 
hold a place in the memory of the hostess 
who was so glad to welcome them ; more 
than half are gone from among us, but 
they are counted in, and there can never 
be a vacant chair. 

It is difficult to imagine that long, dull 
Derby Street within thirty years contained 
a work of art so transcendently beautiful 
as what seemed to be a queer-looking car- 
pet, out of which one day a woman was 



Odds and Ends in 

beating clouds of dust as it hung on the 
pole in her yard. Mr. Ephraim Miller, son 
of the general who so modestly ''tried" 
and bravely succeeded, was walking by the 
house, when his attention was roused, and 
on nearer view he discovered it to be a 
tapestry with figures large as life, exquis- 
itely wrought from the cartoon of Raphael, 
"Feed my Lambs." He entered into con- 
versation with the woman, who told him 
that her husband, a sailor, had brought it 
home on his last voyage, in compliance 
with her petition for a carpet to cover the 
floor of her best room. He did not happen a wonderful 

• • 11 111 1 bargain. 

to Visit any port where he could buy what 
she desired, but at last discovered this old 
thing, rolled up in a little shop on the 
quay of Malta, and bought it for her. The 
tapestry proved too large for the "best 
room," so a great piece of it was turned 
under, and in this way the superb border 
of fruit and flowers, wrought in silk and 
gold thread, was fresh and bright as when 
it came from the hands of the workmen, 
and it was all in a fine state of preserva- 
tion. Mr. Miller found that the sailor's 
wife had been grievously disappointed at 
not getting a real carpet, instead of this 
" queer, picture-like thing," and, seeing his 



112 Odds and Ends 

chance, he took advantage of it by offering 
to give her a Kidderminster, or whatever 
she might choose, in exchange for the 
treasure so wasted on its possessor. Lest 
she should change her mind, he went with 
her to Downing's, where, with much de- 
light, she selected a hideous combination of 
red and green, after which they separated 
with mutual satisfaction. Mr. Miller took 
Raphael's thc cartoon to the Custom House, where it 
was exhibited on a frame, which displayed 
the perfect beauty of the design and work. 
Its last movement was to the Cathedral 
in Montreal, where it probably remains to 
this day. Its history was never clearly 
traced, but it is supposed to have gone 
from England to Malta, and that it may 
have been one of the set ordered by James 
I. to be wrought after the cartoons. Would 
it not have been "a joy forever" if the 
Essex Institute could have laid loving hands 
on it ! 

Apropos to the Essex Institute is the East 
India Marine Museum, once irreverently 
spoken of by non-residents as the *' Salem 
Museum," with the least possible sneer, as 
thouEch Salem boasted a little too much of 
her chief treasures ; but this was in old 
times. The vast increase of the collec- 



Odds and Ends ii ^ 

tions must have wholly changed the aspect 
of the great room, on which my young eyes 
gazed with delight and wonder. The es- 
pecial attraction was, it must be confessed, 
in the group of Orientals, life size, with 
rigidly correct toilettes, but the polite jan- 
itor, who rose from his accustomed seat to 
point out what it was most proper to look 
at, always urged an examination of the 
carved-ivory celestial and infernal regions. 
I preferred the pagans, the shells, and but- 
terflies. Salem may well have been proud, 
for there was only the Athenaeum and the ^"^ 
Museum to brag of, and the order and ar- 
rangement of the latter through the cen- 
tury are worthy of the high praise that it 
has always received from those who knew 
anything about it. The Peabody Academy 
of Science is a grand institution ; but I am 
glad that on the granite front of the build- 
ing we can forever read the honored name 
of the East India Marine Hall. 

It may be said of Salem gibraltars that cibraitars. 
they speak for themselves ; their fame has 
been widespread for more than sixty years, 
but perhaps the true story of their first 
appearance in the little town they helped 
to make famous is not generally known by 
the eating public. Mr. Spencer, an Eng- 



114 Odds and Ends 

lishman, came to this country about the 
year 1822, and, being desirous of obtaining 
work, was taken into the employment of 
Mr. Merritt, the expressman, who during a 
long life secured the respect and confi- 
dence of his fellow-citizens. While in his 
family he experimented with the making 
of gibraltars, and succeeded so well that 
they met with a ready sale, which placed 
him in a comfortable position ; and it is 
probable that his mother soon followed 
him from England, as no old inhabitant of 
Salem can separate the idea of ^ gibraltar 
from a wagon driven by Mrs. Spencer from 
shop to shop, to supply the numerous 
Thrift lead- wholcsalc customcrs. At first their means 
must have been limited, as a weekly pur- 
chase of the soft white paper in which the 
candy was neatly wrapped was as large 
an outlay as it seemed prudent to make, 
and it may be that this wise economy was 
an efficient aid to the extensive business 
following these very small beginnings. 
The gibraltars, when fresh, were almost 
as hard as their Spanish namesake, losing 
the brittle quality in the course of time, but 
never melting into stickiness. The retail 
price was a silver four-pence half-penny for 
seven, and many a child used to spend his 



tng to sue 
cess. 



I 
I 



Odds and Ends ii^ 

or her whole allowance in the purchase of 
the tempting sweets. 

Mr. Spencer was a man of varied knowl- 
edge, and a delightful companion to those 
who had the opportunity of listening to his 
intelligent talk. His lectures delivered at Lyceum uc 
the Lyceum were of a high order, espe- 
cially one on *' Light," as sparkling and 
lucid as the subject of the discourse. Af- 
ter many years' residence in Salem he in- 
herited an estate in England, and went 
back to his native land, but always retained 
his interest in the place where he had lived 
so long, while its inhabitants, on their part, 
must have a peculiar and rather incon- 
gruous admiration for a person of such 
literary attainments, and the maker of Sa- 
lem gibraltars. 

" Hark, now I hear them ! ding, dong bell." 

George Mulct, the blind town-crier, can 
ring for us as he did so many years ago, and 
while he stops at a wonted corner to pro- 
claim that something is "found to-day," a 
procession starts, headed by Daniel Dutch, 
deputy sheriff, who with dog and stick will 
keep inviolable order. Skillikallee, alias 
Healy, has turned the key on his puppet 
show at the upper end of Essex Street. 



ii6 Odds and Ends 

Procession Ncxt comcs the " needy knife - grinder," 
wortMes. who might say, if he tried to recall half 
that he had seen or heard as he sharpened 
knives and scissors on his busy wheel, 
" Story ! God bless you, I have one to» tell 
you." Mr. Bedney, the sole letter-carrier 
and almanac - seller, does not seem like a 
bearer of good tidings, and from the ex- 
pression of his face one might expect to 
find on the first leaf of the almanac, About 
this time look out for bad weather. Target 
Gale leaves his barber's shop with sau- 
sages frying in the back room. Sary Pease, 
Thanksgiving beggar, in sad-colored cloak, 
perhaps conceals two or three legs of mut- 
ton under its folds, and Mrs. Johnson is on 
her way from auction, with her purchases 
dangling at both arms. Johnny Geer, coal- 
black, with the hugest of lips, stalks before 
poor Pompey Nolegs, and they can rest 
at Esty's shop on Newbury Street, to in- 
dulge in a Barmecide feast of hot clam 
soup, while he perhaps will drum for them 
on their march to Judith Jaquish, the 
woman of divers gifts, parasol - coverer, 
shoe-binder, fresco-painter, and performer 
on a violoncello made in part by her own 
skillful hands. Her paintings on the side 
of the staircase, of cats, dogs, and lambs, 



Odds and Ends iiy 

were only preliminary to the elaborate dec- 
oration of her parlor, which consisted of a 
red brick mansion, an orange tree in full 
bearing, a row of three monkeys, and a fe- 
male at the door of the house blowing a 
horn. The legend as it dropped from her 
lips was as follows : '' You see one of the Pictures that 
monkeys has gone to the tree to steal fhemsdZs. 
oranges ; the others were sent to bring 
him back, but as they seem to be as bad as 
he is; the woman is tooting for help." She 
once told some visitors that she had been 
shingling the roof, and did not call it very 
hard work. If she were in a gracious 
mood, she would play them a tune, but if 
she chanced to be in a less happy frame 
of mind, the sooner they departed the bet- 
ter; and I dare say that she was often sub- 
jected to thoughtless impertinence, or what 
seemed to her to be such. 

The poet, Billy Cook, died many years 
ago, leaving the rich legacy of his extraor- 
dinary works to Salem, which let us hope 
was the birthplace of so rare a genius. He 
united three accomplishments in concoct- 
ing his volumes : he wrote the poems, illus- 
trated them, did the printing, and in order 
to make a literal press sat upon it himself. 
The composition was unique, the pictures 



1 18 Odds and Ends 

were beyond criticism, and the printing 
was only excelled by the *' Riverside." 
Salem has produced several poets, but 
there can be only one Billy Cook ! 
Fire ! Fire ! A friend who in boyhood availed him- 
self of every chance to go to a fire has fur- 
nished some items by which a record of 
the efficient aid given by the amateur fire- 
men forty or fifty years ago may fill a page 
of Odds and Ends. 

The *' silk stockings " of Chestnut, Es- 
sex, and some neighboring streets often 
did good service with engine Pennsylvania, 
in spite of the silken hose, that did not 
prevent a skillful management of the leath- 
ern hose, which was pulled and pushed, as 
was also the engine, by the united efforts 
of one horse at the end of a long rope and 
as many hands as could catch hold of it, 
besides two men at the poles. But the ex- 
ploits in the lower part of the town, being 
under personal observation, can be more 
thoroughly described. At the first stroke 
of the bell, the "wide awakes " ran to their 
respective engine-houses with buckets on 
arm, long bag slung over the shoulder, and 
hands at liberty to run out the engine, 
seize. the rope, and do all the dragging un- 
til a horse was brought to help them. The 



Odds and Ends iig 

Rapid once went in great style to Marble- 
head, manned by two lads of sixteen, who 
unlocked the engine»house door, got the 
engine and hose-cart out, and pulled their 
best until the customary horse made his 
appearance ; then they raced four miles to 
the fire, where the requisite force of men 
was found, and after the flames were ex- 
tinguished, they were hospitably invited to a town ai- 
the town hall to smoke a long nine and JofVo^piiai- 
drink a little New England rum — let us '^'^' 
hope that it was very little. 

A good deal of agility was needed to es- 
cape the inevitable risks, and a tremendous 
amount of strength has been expended by 
a man on the pole to keep the engine from 
sliding forward and bringing destruction 
in its train. The scene of action once 
reached, a line was speedily formed, buck- 
ets of water passed to fill the engine, 
and not infrequently a cheek was scorched 
by the heat while the opposite ear was 
frozen by intense cold. No trained fireman 
could have worked more fearlessly than 
these volunteers. Regardless of danger, 
they would dive in and out of a burning 
house, and one of the number, who could 
not resist the entreaties of a poor old 
woman, ran up-stairs to bring down her 



truth. 



120 Odds and Ends 

Bible and molasses jug with a not very 
choice collection of articles huddled to- 
gether in the long bag. 
The honest All houor is their due for ready and 
cheerful services, but the honest truth is 
that they liked the fun, and an Indian war- 
whoop would hardly have made night more 
hideous than the shouts of " Fire ! " ring- 
ing on the air, the louder the better, ex- 
cept for those who had to stay at home 
and hear them. Steam-engines with a 
well-paid fire department are a signal tri- 
umph of new times over the old. 




My pleasant task is ended, and I now dedicate 
this little book to the friends who remain in the 
Old Ho7ne, and those who have sought what per- 
haps they may never have foimd, — a better place 
to live in. I have ^''looked up the Old Mother, ^^ 
and have listened to her stories, by which a few 
years over half a century have been illustrated^ 
and now there is 7iothing more to say, except the 
word that sooner or later must be said by all, 

GOOD-BY. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




m 



